Private
schools need
more
appreciation from goverment
Markus Budirahardjo ; The writer heads the Quality Assurance Office
at Sanata Dharma University, Yogyakarta
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JAKARTA
POST, 13 Desember 2014
Private
schools have been influential in the political, economic, social and cultural
history of Indonesia. Much literature suggests that long before independence
in 1945, religion-based schools had prepared the literate and highly
patriotic groups that made up this country.
This
article sheds light on one particular finding drawn from a collaborative
study by Sanata Dharma University and Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta
this year.
The data
was obtained from a sample of 92 schools out of 1,081 Muhammadiyah and
Catholic schools in Yogyakarta and Central Java provinces. As an excerpt of
the more comprehensive report, this article addresses three areas of concern:
first, the real amount of money collected by the private schools for each
student; second, the gaps between the actual funds from the government and
the real expenditure by each school; and finally, the particular strategies
of the private schools to meet the gaps of infrastructure construction.
The data
shows that the distribution of school operational assistance funds (BOS) for
private schools is intended to finance school activities, honorariums for
instructors, learning aids, electricity, water, telecommunication bills,
infrastructure maintenance, transportation, taxes and food for students.
However,
the BOS is not used to pay private school teachers’ salaries.
According
to the existing regulation the BOS amount is determined by the number of
students in each school. The BOS was initially intended to alleviate the
burdens of parents for sending their children to enjoy a nine-year compulsory
education program.
In
addition, the fund is also expected to meet the minimum standards of service
by the school. As shown in the following table, the amount of money obtained
for each elementary school student is Rp 580,000 (US$47.09) per year and for
a junior high student Rp 710,000 per year.
The data
shows (see table below) that the financial contribution of the government to
private, religion-based schools is far from sufficient. First, the government
funds to these schools on average contributed up to 47 per cent of all
expenditures. It was also obvious that Catholic schools spent more money to
run the schools.
For
Muhammadiyah schools, the funds obtained from the government contributed 51
per cent of their whole expenditures, while for the Catholic schools the
contribution was 42.5 per cent. The biggest gap was in government funding
compared to the expenditure of Catholic junior high schools, which reached
almost Rp 2 million per student.
The
study also reveals that religion-based schools encounter huge problems in
infrastructure and facilities.
In
contrast with state-owned schools, which rely solely on annual state budgets
and local government budgets to build facilities, these religion-based
schools are forced to find their own sources apart from the 21 percent
obtained from the government.
The rest
was obtained from other sources, such as networking (20 percent), parents (16
percent), and external parties (18 percent). Given the huge disparities among
schools, in terms of school leadership skills, networking, alumni relations,
and other socio-economic considerations, only a few schools thrived in such a
tough and dire atmosphere.
In
conclusion, each private school faces a losing war, in which their public
school counterparts enjoy much privilege over resources that leads to
attracting brighter students, enticing more parents with free education
services and better facilities or infrastructure.
Verbal
accounts gathered in the study show that while some officials in local
education offices show appreciation of the contribution of private schools,
the top leaders such as the former education minister, Muhammad Nuh,
frequently raised negative remarks with regards to civil society’s
participation through education.
Once he
said it was unlawful for the private schools to obtain the BOS while charging
tuition fees. Such an attitude demonstrated a lack of understanding about the
actual amount of money needed to operate these private schools and ignorance
of or insensitivity to the historical contributions of private schools.
Private schools have done their part for decades and now need some
appreciation. We are waiting for real, meaningful actions from the
administration of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo. ●
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