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ocial foundations and teachers running and teaching at free-tuition schools have called on the government to give more support in an effort to provide good quality free education for Indonesian children.

Haidar Bagir, the founder of social foundation Amal Khair Yasmin, said that free-tuition schools were constantly struggling to stay afloat financially as they continue to hire good quality teachers who were willing to work for little pay.

'€œWe are always nervous at the end of the month as we need Rp 250 million [US$18,800] every month to continue operating our schools,'€ he said at the Culture and Elementary and Secondary Education Ministry in South Jakarta.

Haidar'€™s foundation runs several businesses and accepts donations in order to keep their schools afloat. Haidar said that the foundation'€™s schools, two junior high schools, four early child education programs (PAUD) and three senior high schools, also received School Operational Assistance (BOS) from the government but said that not all free-tuition schools received such funding due to the strict requirements.

'€œThe ministry must make programs to support free-tuition schools, especially those that are located in remote areas,'€ he said.

Tuition-free schools in most places only accepted students from poor families.

According to UNICEF data, a 2010 national census claimed that some 3.5 million children were not attending elementary or junior secondary school.

It is also estimated that 2.7 million children, half of which are under the age of 13, are involved in child labor due to financial needs.

The foundation on Friday held a joint training program with the Culture and Elementary and Secondary Education Ministry for schoolteachers from more than 100 free-tuition schools nationwide.

Teachers who attended the program mostly agreed that free-tuition schools and children from poorer families would benefit greatly from more cooperation and funding from the ministry.

'€œEducation is not cheap, especially if you want good teachers. But to achieve that, the community also needs to initiate the first move,'€ said Gembirasari, a teacher at a free school from the Muthahhari Foundation.

Muthahhari Foundation'€™s junior high school, Gembirasara said, was funded by its elementary school and senior high school, whose students paid tuition fees.

She said that although her institution was not an inclusive one, parents of disabled children insisted on enrolling their children there, lured by the free tuition. However, due to the lack of funding, Gembirasara said, teachers were not trained to handle disabled children.

'€œThe government must work together with the private sector to further free education,'€ she said.

Meanwhile, Culture and Elementary and Secondary Education Minister Anies Baswedan acknowledged that it was the government'€™s duty to provide free education for all children but he said that the ministry had been dealing with a lack of funding.

'€œThis is actually the country'€™s responsibility but we have limited financial capacity,'€ he said.

The government has allocated Rp 409.1 trillion in the 2015 state budget for elementary and secondary education. This adds up to approximately 20 percent of the state budget.

However, Anies said that the government was working to increase the budget for education and he expressed his gratitude to various foundations that set up private schools that were not only free but were inclusive of disabled children.