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Court revokes education entities law
Six months after the Supreme Court banned the national exam, the Constitutional Court has scrapped the controversial law on educational legal entities, a double blow to the Education Ministry The court ruled in favor of several groups that objected to different articles in the law
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ix months after the Supreme Court banned the national exam, the Constitutional Court has scrapped the controversial law on educational legal entities, a double blow to the Education Ministry The court ruled in favor of several groups that objected to different articles in the law. The groups included the Association of Indonesian Private Universities, university students, experts and teachers.
The law required all education institutions to become legal entities within six years of the law being passed. These educational legal entities, known as BHP, would have been given autonomy to develop their own resources and academic capacities, as well as to mobilize their own financial resources.
Former national education minister Bambang Sudibyo said the BHP were “just like corporations”.
But Wednesday saw the Constitutional Court ruling putting an end to the short-lived law. The panel of judges said that the law had many weaknesses.
“The law was based on the assumption that all educational institutions in Indonesia have equal capability to comply with the BHP law… [While] there is an obvious disparity in the capacity of state universities in the country,” they argued.
Granting autonomy to state universities, they added, would have varied impacts.
“Although there are universities that are able to generate funding, there are even more that are not… This will hamper the education process.”
The court also ruled that Article 53 (1) of the 2003 National Education System Law was constitutional “as long as the words ‘educational legal entities’ were interpreted as a name to call education institutions and not as forms of legal entities”.
But this article was the basis upon which the BHP law rested.
Vice President Boediono through his spokesman said that the ruling would “have a huge impact on education in Indonesia”. He also said that the government would comply with the ruling.
Harry Tjan Silalahi from the Trisakti foundation said that the court ruling “brightens up the education scene in the country. The law sees education as a commodity.”
Education expert Darmaningtyas said that after the law was scrapped, state universities that had been granted legal entities would have to change their statuses back into being regular state universities.
He acknowledged that doing so would not necessarily mean the universities would charge less expensive tuition fees.
University of Indonesia (UI) spokesman Vishnu Juwono said the state university would run just the same after the ruling. “We accept the ruling,” he said. “We will remain an institution that selects candidates with high academic standards. Rich or poor, as long as they pass the entrance test, they are welcome at UI.”
UI currently charges between Rp 100,000 (US$11) and Rp 7.5 million rupiah per semester per student depending on the program and the financial capability of the student. It also charges a one time entrance fee of Rp 5 million to Rp 25 million.
