T

he Bandung city administration has issued a new regulation on the enrollment of new students for the 2014-2015 school year, which will limit the amount of students from outside the city '€” from areas such as Cimahi, Bandung and West Bandung regencies '€” at 10 percent of the quota for state school seats at all levels.

Bandung Education Agency secretary Dadang Iradi said the limitation was aimed at increasing the enrolled number of students from the city itself. The office records 110,000 new enrollments annually.

The figure is based on the number of graduates from each level of education in public and private schools. '€œThe number is high, but residents still prefer public schools,'€ said Dadang.

Consequently, the city administration had to issue a new regulation allowing all students to attend school, while ensuring that the quota for public schools was limited, Dadang went on.

According to the regulation, enrollments will be carried out through both academic and non-academic channels. Registrations will also be conducted transparently as they will use an online system.

The administration also takes the distance between a student'€™s house and school into account.

Dadang gave an example of enrollment through the academic channel, saying that, if a student obtained a pure exam score of 36, and later registered at a school located within the district in which he or she lived, the student would be entitled to an additional score of 10 percent of his or her pure exam score.

During online registration, the system will display applicant'€™s cumulative scores.

The applicants'€™ rankings will serve as a yardstick to compare the students who have been registered, Dadang said.

If a school, for instance, offers a quota of 100 seats, the 100 applicants with the highest cumulative scores would be entitled to enroll at the school in question.

'€œFor this year'€™s enrollment, each school is required to allocate 20 percent of its seats to students from impoverished families and children protected by law, while another 10 percent is for students from outside the city and 5 percent is for students enrolled through the non-academic channel,'€ said Dadang, adding that only children 7 years old and above would be accepted at elementary school, in line with a registration requirement.

Dadang added that students from impoverished families would also receive additional scores based on the distance between their home and school.

Regarding the enrollment of students with disabilities, Dadang said that if they hailed from underprivileged families, they could submit a reference letter, certified by the subdistrict office, stating their economic situation.

'€œEvery school must accept students with disabilities because our education system is inclusive in nature,'€ Dadang said, adding that schools were still lacking in special tutors for students with disabilities.

The new student enrollment system has received a warm response from residents, one of whom is Matdon, who will enroll his child in senior high school this year.

'€œI believe the system could reduce my child'€™s school transportation expenses,'€ said Matdon.

However, Matdon said that the Bandung Education Agency should rotate teachers so the quality of education in all schools became equal.

Dadang declined to comment on the teacher-and-principal-rotation program, saying that his office was still focusing on improving the new student enrollment system. '€œThere should no longer be a perception of favorite schools, due to equal quality. We will also improve school infrastructure and facilities,'€ added Dadang.