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Bekasi private schools get less students
Afternoon break: Seventh grade students chat inside a classroom at SMP-SMA Putra Harapan, a private junior and senior high school in Kayuringin subdistrict, Bekasi, on Tuesday
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fternoon break: Seventh grade students chat inside a classroom at SMP-SMA Putra Harapan, a private junior and senior high school in Kayuringin subdistrict, Bekasi, on Tuesday. Many private middle schools in Bekasi have seen student numbers drop in recent years.(JP/Robert Yota)
Unfurling banners and chanting slogans, about 100 private school principals staged a noisy protest at the Bekasi mayoral office recently.
They protested the city administration’s policy on public school enrollment because of the drastic fall in student numbers.
“We need new students to feed us,” one banner screamed. Others carried messages demanding that the mayor stop the enrollment system (or PPDB) that the teachers say has managed to get most students into state schools.
After two hours demonstrating, 10 teachers representing the protesters were allowed inside and they met with Education Agency head Inay Hidayatulah but they could not agree on anything.
The protest was triggered by the local administration’s decision to extend the period of enrollment to state schools, disregarding the objection raised by local private schools which have seen students numbers plummet in recent years.
SMP-SMA Putra Harapan junior and senior high school in Kayuringin subdistrict, for example, has only 10 students in its tenth grade class. Out of the 10, six were returnees from its ninth grade class and only four came from other schools. Last year, the classroom had 20.
Ratna Dewi, the school’s principal, said her tenth grade students looked unconfident and lacked motivation during the new student orientation because of their small number.
The protesters accused the administration of not honoring its promise to stop enrollment to state schools on June 4 when it switched from online to offline methods.
“We had already allocated our budget for the school year’s operational expenditures based on the projected number of students we should have admitted, but the continued PPDB has dashed our hopes,” Ratna said. “The Bekasi Education Agency and administration disregards the consequences inflicted on private schools.”
At Putra Harapan, seventh graders Marsha Eka Sonanda, 13, and Alini Khoirunissa, 12, were seen idling around in one of the classrooms. Asked why they chose a private school, they said it was because of the Islamic values that Putra Harapan teaches.
In fact, student numbers have also fallen in many private schools in other regions across Indonesia largely because parents generally prefer to send their children to the less costly but better equipped state schools.
Many students turn to private schools as their second choice, after they fail to get a place at a state-run school.
A private junior high school located 3 kilometers from Putra Harapan was caught in a worse situation.
“It may be hard to believe but our seventh grade class only has two students,” said the school’s headmaster, who went on the record provided that neither the name of his school nor his identity was disclosed.
To survive the crisis, some private schools in Bekasi are relabeling themselves as religious schools.
“Islamic, Christian or Catholic schools. Take a drive around Bekasi and see for yourself,” said the headmaster. In the school’s garden, a number of ninth graders were singing along to Ariana Grande’s “Thank u, next”.
“We have 12 students in our class. Actually, we’re quite happy about it since we hang out all the time and no one gets left out,” said 14-year old student Salsa.
Tuesday’s protest was organized by over 100 headmasters associated with the Bekasi Private Schools Association (BMPS) and Private School Headmasters Forum (FKKSS).
They reject the formation of new public school units (USB) and ask the city administration to stop intervening in the ratification process of junior and high school policies, which should be under the authority of the provincial government instead.
According to the BMPS, 134 private schools are badly affected with 23 schools having fewer than 32 students and three schools having fewer than 10 students in the whole year level.
The association also sees that the administration gives preferential treatment to the establishment of new schools in favor of state schools.
“To open a private school, the government requires a lengthy feasibility study and quality checks after it opens. On the other hand, new state schools like SMPN 57 can open with just an approval note from the city’s education agency,” said BMPS chief Ayung Sardi Dauly.
The association also claims that the city’s education agency turns a blind eye to violations of an Education Ministerial decree on the PPDB.
“The decree sets the maximum number of new students in every state school classroom at 32. However, we recently found out that, on average, they have admitted up to 42 students.”
In response to the protests, the Bekasi Education Agency’s head of junior high schools Mawardi ensured that the second-round PPDB was finished and that he would look into reports that student numbers at private schools had dropped.
“We are considering merging some private schools that have the least new and existing students,” said Marwadi. He added that private schools still stood the chance of admitting more students because state schools could not take all applicants.
The agency notes that 70 percent of the 44,000 elementary school graduates are yet to have a school place.
The protesting principals threatened to stage another rally on Bekasi thoroughfares next week unless they were granted an audience with mayor Rahmat Effendi. (bry)
