Putri Prameshwari – The government's intentions may be good, but education experts have serious doubts about whether the government can pull off its plan to introduce 12 years of compulsory education.

Satria Darma, chairman of the independent education watchdog Indonesian Teachers' Club, told the Jakarta Globe the country could not implement its nine-year compulsory system properly, let alone an expanded system. "Deal with the current program first before going to the next one," he said.

Children in this country are required to attend six years of elementary education and three in junior high. Many provinces offer a three-year senior high school program but it is not mandatory.

Students who quit after graduating from junior high can continue on at vocational schools but a senior high school diploma is required to enter college.

In a visit to a state high school in Bali last week, Vice President Boediono was asked by a student why the country had not implementing a 12-year system like most other countries.

"Globalization will mean we will be unable to compete with foreigners if we only have nine years of education," the student told the vice president. "What can a junior high school graduate do for work? The government should establish 12 years of basic education."

In response, Boediono said the government was committed to rolling out the program in stages. "We will use this program to increase the quality of our nation in an effective way," he said.

Many students are forced to drop out after elementary school so they could work to support their families. "Poverty is a classic reason for not being able to continue education," Satria said. "The government must to tackle this first."

Satria said he recently met a girl in Balikpapan who had to drop out after elementary school. "The girl became a prostitute because of the poverty she had to endure," he said.

According to Education Ministry data, this year only 69 percent of junior high school students are continuing on to senior high or vocational schools, while the rest dropped out after the national exams.

In theory, tuition is free at state schools, although in practice most schools require parents to contribute to an annual "maintenance fund." National Education Minister Muhammad Nuh acknowledged funding was an issue when it came to implementing the 12-year education system.

"If we could, we would start the 12-year program immediately," he said. "But since there is not enough money for it, we are introducing it gradually."

Nuh predicted the 12-year program would be implemented nationwide by 2014. Some provinces have already started requiring students to continue on to senior high level, including Jakarta, East Kalimantan, East Java and Bali.

"In Bali, 89 percent of junior high school students have enrolled for senior high school," Nuh said.

Arief Rachman, an education expert from the Jakarta State University, said Boediono's statement in Bali might just be a political move.

He said such a policy would mean nothing if it were not followed by a program outline. "It will take a long process of implementation," Arief said. "The government must sit down first with stakeholders."

Satria said that if the central government were serious, it was imperative that it issue a regulation detailing how the expansion would be implemented.

"For example if they apply a mandatory 12 years of study and a child cannot afford to enroll in a high school, what should the regional administration do about it?" he said.

Arief said the role of regional administrations was very important when it came to applying the changes as they were the ones that knew their respective areas.

With 51 million elementary and junior high school students across Indonesia, he said the program would be difficult to apply without good coordination at the federal and local level.

"The central government will not be able to do it alone," Arief said. Good preparation would determine which areas were prepared for the expansion and which were not.

Satria agreed, saying it would take much greater determination from regional administrations to apply a 12-year program. He said students in most regions were not given complete access to nine years of education as attending school was still too expensive for many.

"They still don't care about education, it's not their priority," Satria said. "As long as it is still that way, don't expect to raise the standard even higher."