Wealthy students refuse to pay school fees

BOGOR (JP): Many elementary school students from affluent families in West Bogor have followed in the steps of low-income parents not to pay any kind of fees at their respective schools, an official said on Wednesday.

Head of the local education and culture office, Nurhadiaty, said some wealthy parents had not even paid the compulsory BP3 contribution for their children at several schools for the past 12 months.

"They don't want to pay but on the other hand they still refuse to submit a letter issued by their local neighborhood chief, which would state that they were a poor family.

"Instead, they keep quiet and decline to pay," Nurhadiaty said.

She said West Bogor was home to at least 73 state and private elementary schools, where some 18,000 students, mostly from poor families, learn.

She therefore condemned the local affluent parents, who declined to contribute their financial share to help operations run at the schools.

"Not only were they reluctant to meet their obligation to pay the BP3 fee, but they, the rich parents, even got mad when we asked for the uang pembangunan (extra money for school facilities), which is merely used for repairing the school's ruined chairs and desks," Nurhadiaty said.

She insisted that only orphans and students from poor families were exempt from any fees at school.

But, she added, her office and many of the private school operators acknowledged that most of the students there were from low-income families.

The principal and teachers at SD I Gunung Batu, for instance, recently agreed to lower its uang pembangunan from Rp 10,000 (US$1.45) to Rp 2,750 per student, following objections from the parents, Nurhadiaty said.

A similar case also happened at SD Loji I when the teachers also heeded parents' call to drop the fees from Rp 11,000 to Rp 1,000.

"We have no choice but to meet the parents' wishes, although we desperately need the money to repair school desks and chairs," Nurhadiaty said. (21/bsr)