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COMMENTARY: School zoning well intentioned, but hastily begun
The chaos during the leadup to this year’s enrollment showed the myriad of challenges facing the country in its bid to close the yawning gap between affluent and poor schools.
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In harmony: A group of elementary school students pray together at a solidarity event in Surakarta, Central Java, to honor those affected by the Aceh earthquake (Antara/Maulana Surya)
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ntil last month, well-off parents did everything in their power to get their children seats at “favorite” state schools. They didn’t mind spending millions of rupiahs in admission fees and “voluntary contributions” to the schools’ already fat coffers.
This will be a thing of the past if the propitious school zoning system that Culture and Education Minister Muhadjir Effendy introduced without fanfare works as planned, despite the chaos resulting from the hasty three-month preparation.
The new system is part of an effort to narrow disparities that have long dichotomized state schools along “caste” lines: “favorite” and “non-favorite.” This polarity has been largely blamed for various predicaments, such as the jealousy that often sets off student brawls, the perpetually widening inequality between rich and poor schools, corruption resulting from parents’ fierce competition for their children’s seats at the best schools, and traffic snarls inflamed by students’ long-distance commutes in private vehicles.
Even nobler, the system is designed to allow citizens of all economic brackets to access quality education. Now, every state school is legally required to accept students from poor families that hold legitimate documentation of their poverty: Smart Cards, health cards and Family Hope Program identification. All state schools in cities, suburbs and rural areas will have equal opportunity to excel — well, at least in theory.
Now, children who live in the designated zone should make up 90 percent of the school’s core intake of students. Of the remaining 10 percent of available seats, 5 percent is allotted to stellar students (that may come from outside the zone) and 5 percent to those who have migrated from other regions or from overseas.
Gone will be the era when parents hunted far and wide for the state school of their dreams, because the new education policy compels them to enroll their kids at schools within the designated zone; otherwise, they will have to send their children to private schools, which are exempt from the policy.
Usually clustered in cities, “favorite” schools have always been overenrolled. They are attended by children from more affluent families, be they businesspeople, celebrities or politicians, who would pay generously toward the entrance fee and other charges euphemized as “free contributions.” The National Ombudsman, a promoter of the new scheme, has noted that a typical favorite state school can accumulate up to Rp 5 billion (US$384,000) annually in contributions from parents.
