Wait is over as students, schools receive assistance fund
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
After a six months' wait following the central government's decision to cut the fuel subsidy in early March and to divert the funds for education and health services, poor families in the capital will soon enjoy a little relief.
The government finally disbursed some of the fund earmarked to help provide education for students from economically disadvantaged families.
"The fund for the academic term from July to December has been allotted by the central government and has been deposited in city-owned Bank DKI, ready to be passed directly on to needy schools and poor students," said City Basic Education Agency head Sylviana Murni.
She said that the bank was appointed to manage the fund disbursement since all public schools had accounts in the bank.
"Since Bank DKI belongs to the administration, we will be able to better control the disbursement of the fund," she added.
Head of the people's welfare division with the City Planning Body (Bapeda), Tuty Kusumawati, said that school principals and committees were responsible for ensuring that poor students benefited from the fund.
"For instance, the school management could now provide a transportation allowance to poor students whose homes are far from school," she said.
She played down fears that greater authority given to the school management would lead to the misuse of the fund.
"As stipulated in the guidelines issued by the Ministry of National Education, the central government requires the schools to report the use of the fund every three months," she said.
The fund, the recipients of which are disadvantaged students, would be divided into two programs.
The first program, known as school operations assistance program (BOS), is meant to assist schools to exempt poor students from paying school fees, but at the same time maintain quality services. The second, the special assistance for students (BKM), is a program providing direct assistance to underprivileged students to ensure they stay on at school.
Under the BOS scheme, each elementary school and Islamic elementary school will be provided with Rp 235,000 per poor student per year. From July to December this year, each school will be provided with Rp 117,500 per student.
Similarly, junior high schools and Islamic junior high schools get Rp 324,500 per student per year, or Rp 162,250 in the first six month period.
Meanwhile, each elementary student will receive Rp 10,000 monthly under the BKM scheme. Junior high school students will get Rp 20,000, while senior high school or vocational high school students will receive Rp 25,000 per month.
Data from Bapeda's people's welfare division shows that Jakarta receives a Rp 9.2 billion fund under the BKM scheme for the July-December term and Rp 170.9 billion under the BOS program for the same term.
The fund in the BKM program will be given to 13,208 poor students, while the fund in the BOS scheme will be given to 1,305,716 students.
How schools use the assistance funds:
Suggested use of the fund: 1. Provide application form fee 2. Provide text books and library books 3. Administer exams, final tests 4. Provide office equipment: chalk, exercise books 5. Honorarium for non-permanent teachers or trainees 6. Help fund student activities and programs 7. Cover transportation costs of poor students 8. For religious boarding schools, the fund could be used
to help pay boarding school fees
Prohibited under the scheme: 1. Deposit the money to profit from its interest 2. Give loans to other parties 3. Pay members of the school management's bonuses, transportation costs, meals or clothing allowances 4. Construct new rooms or buildings 5. Purchase materials and equipment that are not connected to
educational activities. 6. Buy shares in businesses.
Source: Guidelines from the Ministry of National Education 2005