Small Lampung education budget criticized

Oyos Saroso H.N., ,  The Jakarta Post, ,  Bandarlampung   |  Fri, 01/09/2009 10:55 AM  |  The Archipelago

Various elements of civil society in Lampung have aired their dissatisfaction over the provincial administration's decision to set aside just 13.25 percent, or Rp 225.29 billion (US$20.48 million) for education, far below the 20 percent mandated by the 1945 State Constitution.

"I just found out that only 13.25 percent has been set aside for the education budget after Home Minister Mardiyanto announced Lampung's 2009 budget evaluation. It breaches the law," Gino Vanolie, head of the Indonesian Teachers Dignity Forum said on Thursday.

The evaluation report sent to the Lampung provincial administration on Jan. 5 cited substantial faults in the draft budget.

With a total budget of Rp 1.9 trillion, Mardiyanto disclosed in the report that the education budget should be set at Rp 300 billion in order to meet the 20 percent constitutional requirement.

Apart from inadequate education funding, the minister's evaluation report also focused on improper budget allocations, which they say will likely be the source of embezzlement.

The procurement of practical science equipment (Rp 1.1 billion), the construction of new district kindergartens (Rp 1.5 billion), the provision of uniforms for needy students (Rp 29.2 billion), the building new classrooms for junior high schools (Rp 4 billion), the construction of a new senior high and vocational schools and new classrooms (Rp 13.5 billion and Rp 7.5 billion) and grants for gifted students (Rp 434.7 million) were listed as suspect budget items.

According to Gino, an educational budget of less than 20 percent not only breaches the law but will force the cancellation of a number of educational programs in Lampung.

"During previous budget discussions, budget cuts have been made to many agencies in order to meet the 20 percent education budget," Gino said.

Anti Corruption Committee group coordinator Ahmad Yulden Erwin said the number of school building construction projects would be prone to corruption and should be phased out.

"Perhaps it was due to the background of the Lampung Education Agency head, who is a civil engineer, and the Public Works Agency head, who only knows how to build," Erwin said.

"Lampung is plagued by numerous educational problems, such as widespread illiteracy, a high high school dropout rate and the dilapidated condition of more than 40 percent of its schools."

According to Erwin, the smaller education budget is due to funds being allocated to other agencies.

"The home minister only focussed on the Rp 225.29 billion in education funds despite the fact that there are still hundreds of billions of funds placed in other agencies. For example, they were used for the construction of buildings at the Abdoel Moeloek General Hospital, which should have used funds from the health agency," he said.

Lampung Development Planning Board head Suryono S.W. said the education budget actually amounted to Rp 312 billion -- Rp 162 billion managed by the provincial education agency, Rp 100 billion by working units and other agencies, Rp 16 billion in the form of grants and Rp 2 billion in scholarship grants.

"They *the education agency* would be overwhelmed managing the funds if all the funds were accumulated at the agency because of their limited human resources," he said.

"So, some of them have been divided among other agencies and working units. But the most important thing is that all funds can be fully utilized for education.

Lampung Education Council chairman Sutopo Ghani Nugroho aired his concern over budget management at the Lampung Education Agency, citing the irregular budget allocation system.

"There's no innovation, only a copy and paste habit from the previous year. Budget allocations and activities remain the same as previous years, but only the amount of funds is augmented. This is dangerous," the professor said at the Lampung University.

According to Sutopo, the substantial amount of education funds should be utilized effectively for the sake of equal education, to achieve universal completion of the nine-year mandatory schooling and improve the standard of educators.

"Don't spend the funds on physical construction," he said.

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