Extra school fund yet to fulfill hopes

Adianto P. Simamora and Eny Wulandari ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Fri, 05/02/2008 1:33 PM  |  National

Many expected much from the government's School Operational Fund (BOS) when introduced in 2005 to help reduce schooling costs.

School principals wished to use the block grant to rebuild classrooms or pay for facilities. Parents hoped the money could cut school tuition fees, to reduce the burden on family budget.

It's not how it works out for Hendaru, who, despite the BOS, has to pay Rp 100,000 in monthly school fees for his son, who goes to a state elementary school in Rawamangun, East Jakarta.

Hendaru says the BOS makes no difference. Many teachers still keep asking parents for extra money for school activities.

"Thanks to the BOS, each student receives Rp 20,000 per month plus Rp 50,000 in educational operation cost (BOP). Each student is only supposed to pay Rp 45,000 in monthly school fee," he told The Jakarta Post.

Before the BOS started, the school charged each student Rp 115,000 per month, so there should be a cost reduction.

Hendaru says the BOS does not actually cut costs on his son's education since the school always finds more reasons to collect money from parents.

To make it worse, Hendaru says, many parents do not have the guts to protest.

"Many of the parents are afraid of intimidation if they talk about this publicly. That's why they prefer to keep quiet," he said.

The government launched the BOS program to familiarize schools with autonomy in financial management.

Under the program, the government annually allocated Rp 254,000 in financial aid for each student in 2007 and 2008.

Hendaru said, however, the parents had no access to details on how the new fund is spent.

"So far, no school teacher has explained BOS program implementation to parents. The school committee turns a blind eye to these problems," he said.

Turman, the principal of state elementary school SDN Nanggung I Kopo in Serang, Banten, said the BOS program was not enough to cover school spending, let alone to increase education quality.

"My school only receives Rp 10.6 million per quarter. It is too small to cover our operational costs," he said.

There are currently only 164 students at Turman's elementary school.

Turman, who chairs the Serang Teachers Association, said his school used up the BOS funds for building maintenance and monthly electricity bills.

"We often owe hardware stores to buy materials for building maintenance."

School operational cost is normally fully covered by the students.

Turman said many schools admitted as many students as possible to get more money.

"Many friends also bribe the area heads of education units using the BOS money," he said.

Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) says that poor public access to BOS scheme details makes it liable to misuse.

"Our survey found the more money provided to schools, the more extra money has to be paid by parents," said ICW's program manager Ade Irawan.

The survey discovered corrupt practices include teachers charging extra fees to students; principals embezzling or doubling school budgets and education agencies extorting or receiving bribes from schools.

The ICW survey recorded a 19 percent increase in education spending from Rp 4.01 million (US$436) per year in 2006 to Rp 4.77 million in 2007 per student despite the BOS.

ICW reported hikes in total schooling costs were triggered by increases in direct and indirect fees, accounting respectively for 32 percent and 68 percent of parents' total average spending per child of Rp 4.77 million in 2007.

It means parents pay an average of Rp 600,000 per month for a child's education despite the existence of the fund, he said.

Direct fees include course fees charged for students preparing for national final exams, exam fees, building maintenance costs, purchase of textbooks and supplementary books, study tours, re-registration and graduation parties.

Indirect fees include fees for school uniforms, transportation to school, stationery, exercise books and after-school courses.

He said corruption is common practice among teachers and principals, as well as in local government education departments and the Education Ministry.

The Ministry of Education admits that BOS resources run far short of covering all expenses needed to run a school.

"Schools still find it difficult to cover operational costs if they rely on monthly fees only," said Suyanto, ministry director general of management of primary and intermediate schools.

"If we want to provide free education, we must provide about Rp 1.3 million for each elementary student and Rp 2.5 million for each junior high school student per year," he said.

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