The Education Ministry has called for a suspension in international-standard certification for schools, pending discussions over the alleged misuse of funds meant to help them improve facilities and services.
Fasli Djalal, the deputy education minister, said on Thursday that the ministry had evaluated 130 schools with the certification, known as RSBI, and found that most of them failed to “properly allocate” funds to improve the quality of education.
Antigraft watchdogs have accused government schools of misusing block grants and operational aid, or BOS, which are handed out annually by the ministry.
“In high schools, we found that more than 50 percent of the money was used for facilities instead of improving the quality of teachers,” Fasli said.
State schools get between Rp 300 million and Rp 500 million ($33,000 and $55,000) in grants from the ministry each year to buy equipment and hire staff.
The BOS helps school administrations cover overhead costs and it also serves as an indirect subsidy for students from low-income families.
Fasli said the results of the evaluation would be the basis for an amendment to a ministerial decree on the RSBI, which would be presented at a national conference from March 16-18.
The evaluation also determined whether RSBI schools reserved at least 20 percent of seats for low-income students. “We also checked how much they charged parents [for tuition] and who decides on this,” Fasli said.
During the evaluation, which was conducted from June last year to January this year, the ministry surveyed 1,000 teachers, 600 parents and 4,500 students.
The 2003 National Education Law requires each district or city to have at least one school undergoing the process of attaining RSBI status at the elementary, junior high and senior high levels.
However, in a symposium at the British Council in Jakarta on Wednesday, Fasli acknowledged that the law did not clearly define the criteria for an international-standard school.
Despite these problems, he said the accreditation process encouraged schools to improve standards. Fasli said the ministry’s evaluation showed most RSBI schools performed better than non-accredited ones.
RSBI schools typically have more diverse curriculums and fewer students in each class. Their teachers are required to lead lessons in Indonesian and English.
The schools are also allowed to impose certain fees on students, unlike other public schools that are discouraged from doing so.
source : www.thejakartaglobe.com
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