When fees and levies just don't add up

Agnes Winarti , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Mon, 05/05/2008 11:24 AM

More individuals and communities are establishing alternative education centers as their contribution to a society already burdened with a bureaucratic education system and high tuition fees. To coincide with National Education Day on May 2, The Jakarta Post looks at the problems faced by such schools in providing quality education.

Those who establish primary schools and kindergartens in Greater Jakarta still regard paying "levies" to public officials as an unavoidable aspect of maintaining good relationships with them.

"Every month, officers from my district school monitoring division come to collect fees for so-called school improvements or other unclear reasons," said Ridwan Ilhamsyah, who established an Islamic kindergarten, Aviciena, at his residential complex in Gading Serpong, Tangerang in Banten.

"I have asked my teachers not to pay them, but it's apparently difficult to say 'no' to the officials," Ridwan, who founded the kindergarten in 2005 with his colleagues, said.

The public officials charge Rp 500 (54 US cents) per student and Rp 5,000 per teacher, and most of the other 10 kindergartens in his neighborhood also pay the monthly illegal fees, he said.

His kindergarten currently has seven teachers and 27 students aged between three and five.

Although the sums of money paid are insignificant for him, Ridwan is concerned about the illegal practice. He acknowledged that he had not yet obtained a license for his kindergarten.

"I don't want to be bothered thinking about the licensing issue at the moment because I don't want to experience more illegal levies, as many other school founders have experienced when getting their licenses," he said.

Etika Hia, assistant principal for the kindergarten and elementary school of High/Scope Indonesia, has had a different experience.

"We never meet any officials who request we pay a sum of money to obtain our school license, but there is money allocated for officials who come to review the school.

"When they come, we naturally prepare some transportation money, snacks and souvenirs. It's a normal thing to do, you know, to provide them with Rp 200,000 for taxi money, for example," she said.

Head of the business management department at the school, which has more than 900 students, Upie Naimah, said: "We perceive it as an administration fee, not levies, because they did not ask for it".

A principal at a small kindergarten and primary school, Tunas Cemerlang, in Pondok Bambu, East Jakarta, Ambarwati, said a sum of money would be paid for every signature needed to renew her school's license. She said she would prepare some Rp 1.5 million to renew her elementary school license ending this year.

"They don't ask for it, but we are fully aware that when there is money, there a way. I don't want any of the important documents we submitted to go missing because we didn't give any money."

To build a kindergarten or a primary school, an applicant needs to provide a recommendation letter from the municipality's sub-agency for primary education, an establishment letter from the school's foundation, a domicile letter from the district office, a building permit letter, and the school's report on its programs, students and teachers.

Ideally, according to a 2006 decree from the head of the city primary education agency, the required license will be completed within three months.

An operational license for a primary school must be renewed every five years, while a kindergarten license is renewed every three years. Before being granted an operational license, a primary school must first obtain a principle license for its first two years of operation.

According to the decree, all expenses for all types of licenses are paid by the administration's budget.

"It is unnecessary for a school to pay any sums of money in the process of acquiring their licenses," the public relations officer at the city agency for primary education Arry Fachrurroji told The Jakarta Post recently.

"But many schools are afraid that their documents will not be processed properly or some want it done quickly, so they try to present a lavish feast and an envelope containing money for the reviewer," Arry said.

When asked if there was a regulation prohibiting officials from asking and receiving money at work, Arry said: "Well, we cannot forbid people who want to give alms to others".

"Meanwhile, we can only rebuke officers who are caught red-handed receiving bribes by transferring them to another department."

Arry said schools should act properly when public officials came for a school review.

"A modest snack and transport money will be fine, if the school is still willing," he said.

Meanwhile, Sari Wadiyah, the principal of another small kindergarten, Bentara Indonesia I, in Cipinang Muara, East Jakarta, said she had not had a problem since the school was established in 1983.

"The (license renewal) process is always quick, only three weeks, and easy because we usually do it collectively with other kindergartens in the same district. We probably only pay Rp 25,000 to the staff of the Association of Kindergarten Teachers, who assist us with the administrative process," she said.

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