Free schools not about money, but commitment

Jakarta, NU Online
In the past few years, free schooling has transformed Jembrana in Bali from a poor, small regency into a region the rest of the country envies when it comes to education development.

Launched in 2001, the program exempts students in elementary and secondary schools from any fees. It compliments Jembrana's free medical treatment policy and subsidies for farmers.<>

Due to its success, Jembrana has now become a role model for a number of other regions in Indonesia wanting to enact similar policies.

East Nusa Tenggara's Kupang, the South Sulawesi town of Gowa, Musi Banyuasin regency in South Sumatra and Dairi regency in North Sumatra are among the regencies and municipalities that have emulated the free-school policy.

Following the central government's call for free education at the start of this year, the provinces of Jakarta, West Java, South Sumatra, East Kalimantan, South Sulawesi and Southeast Sulawesi have pledged their commitment to the policy.

But in reality, the majority of the 33 provinces and around 500 regencies and municipalities across Indonesia remain reluctant to adopt the program, claiming it is a burden of their regional budgets.

The allocation of funds for education have always drawn complaints from the regencies, particularly as they must set aside 20 percent of their budgets for education under a Constitutional mandate. Still, critics call their dissent unwarranted considering the central government continues to inject an increasing amount of funding into the education budget every year.

This year alone the central government has allocated more than Rp 200 trillion (approximately US$20 billion), or about 20 percent of total state expenditure, to the education sector. Most of this has been channelled through the regions, particularly the regency and municipal administrations.

Education observer Utomo Dananjaya said the regions' lack of commitment to education, rather than financial constraints, was blamed for the absence of free education.

"Look at Jembrana, Gowa or Sinjai. They are poor regions, but they have shown they are able to implement the free school policy," Utomo was quoted by The Jakarta Post as saying.

"I am very certain that this isn't about financial capacity, but rather the commitment of the leaders, either those at a local or a central level."

Dairi regent Master Parulian Tumanggor said local administrations could apply the policy if they wanted to.

"We could have if we wanted. And we did it by making our budget more efficient, such as by reducing official trips or cutting back on non-priority projects such as the construction of office buildings," said Tumanggor, who began implementing the free-school policy this year.

Jembbrana's budget efficiency is partly owed to the success of regent I Gede Winasa, who said in an interview that the School Operational Aid (BOS) fund from the central government should have been enough to finance free schools, with local administrations having to only allocate some additional funds from their own budget.

Lin Che Wei, financial analyst and former CEO of philanthropic organization Sampoerna Foundation, said free education was not enough on its own but had to be supported by improving the quality of education. (dar)