T

he SMA 76 public senior high school in West Cakung, East Jakarta, which is led by renowned education activist Retno Listyarti, is pioneering school management reform in the capital, having signed an agreement on good school governance.

The commitment was officialized during a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signing ceremony on Wednesday at SMA 76, attended by Jakarta Education Agency head Lasro Marbun and Pertamina Foundation director Nina Nurlina Pramono.

Retno, who was selected as the school'€™s principal in an open recruitment system introduced by then governor Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo in March, said she had initiated reform of the school'€™s management and requested assistance from the Pertamina Foundation, realizing that she lacked experience in managing schools.

'€œI had no experience of working as a school manager or deputy principal before. So after being selected, I persuaded [Pertamina Foundation education director Ahmad Rizali] Pak Nanang, whom I have known for a long time, to include my school in Pertamina'€™s assistance program despite it not meeting the criteria. Fortunately, the foundation approved my proposal and a month later, an assistance team from Synergy Icon Solutions, which was appointed by the foundation, came to my school and assisted us for several weeks,'€ Retno recalled.

As part of her management reform, Retno set out standard operational procedures and established a number of task-teams focusing on procurement, finance management and student affairs.

'€œI appointed three treasurers. Each one manages funds, compiles reports and disburses funds to avoid fraudulent practices. We publish financial reports on our website www.sman76.sch.id so students, parents or anybody else can monitor what'€™s going on,'€ she said.

Retno pointed out that transparent financial management was necessary as her school managed Rp 6.5 billion (US$531,741) in educational operational assistance (BOP) per year, in addition to Rp 1 million per student per year in operational assistance provided by the central government. More than half of the 619 students in her school come from low-income families, according to Retno.

The team tasked with procurement manages all procurement projects, including drafting lists of school equipment needed and announcing bidding projects, while the student affairs team'€™s tasks include monitoring the distribution of the Jakarta Smart Card (KJP) education allowance.

Retno explained that the school management published the list of KJP recipients so that local residents could flag any irregularities.

'€œFor instance, we found out from residents'€™ reports that student X was actually the son of a civil servant or student Y owned a smart phone. My team checked it out and found out that the reports were valid so we removed the students from the recipient list,'€ she said.

Retno expressed hope that her efforts would be a good example for her students.

Jakarta Education Agency head Lasro Marbun lauded the school principal'€™s initiative, saying that such a small step could be the beginning of wider efforts to improve the quality of education in the country.

'€œIt makes me feel hopeful to see such a thoughtful child of the nation. Consider this: there are at least 2,400 corporations in the country, only 200 of which were founded by Indonesians. We should realize that we were born to enact change. Any of you who are reluctant to be onboard with this reform program, I will have to let you go,'€ he said at the ceremony, adding that a number of schools were set to follow suit.

'€œTwenty-five percent of Jakarta'€™s public schools have joined the program. I will not tolerate the remaining 75 percent,'€ he warned.

Nina, meanwhile, revealed that SMA 76 was among a number of schools in eight different provinces to have received Pertamina'€™s help in improving their management.

'€œWe have assisted 17 schools in eight provinces as part of our '€˜Sobat Bumi'€™ [friend of the earth] program. We also have other human resources empowerment programs, such as leadership programs for school principals and training programs for teachers,'€ she explained.

'€” JP/ Sita W. Dewi