When Independence Day is more than just games ...

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Mothers, teenagers and children buzzed along an decorated narrow alley alongside the Ciliwung river in Bukit Duri, South Jakarta.

There were red-and-white flags and bunting everywhere, just like in any other alley in Jakarta in the days prior to the celebration of Independence Day.

However, while other communities prefer to celebrate with sack races or kerupuk eating competitions, the community dominated by families in lower-income brackets opt for a slightly more serious discussions on their children's education.

Here, the theories of "free education" met reality.

"How come we still have to pay a lot of money to our children's school? The TV (news) said that the government has made it free (of charge)?" asked Nyai, a mother of two school-age children.

Her question found a cheering support from the audience dominated by local housewives.

From her experience, Nyai, and most of the mothers attending a community discussion on "Making Education Free" in front of Sanggar Ciliwung Hall on Saturday, still find it difficult funding their children's education.

The discussion organized by the local community, with the support of non-governmental organization Sanggar Ciliwung led by Romo Sandyawan, invited an officer from the Jakarta educational agency and several educational activists to address them.

As Saefulloh, an education agency official, explained how much the city administration had subsidized compulsory education in order to make it free of charge, participants complained about the burden that school fees placed on them.

"It is true that we do not pay monthly fees, but there are other fees charged for examinations and books," said another resident, Ramsah, naming other fees with names like "school curtain fee" and "new student's donation".

It seems that in this free country, "free education" is still far from reality.

"We are aiming to raise local awareness that they can do something to fight for their rights, and for officials to have a better understanding of the real conditions," said Sandyawan.

At the end of the day, the mothers went home knowing what to say to school officials when asked for fees. And city bureaucrats received an education about the need to monitor schools to ensure that citizens got their rights to a free education. (004)