Ulma Haryanto – When Ade Pujiati started a learning center, all she wanted was to be able to provide free education for the poor.
"In 2007 my god-daughter kept asking me for money to pay various school fees, even though there was this nationwide television campaign from the Education Ministry claiming that education is free," Ade told the Jakarta Globe.
Annoyed by the empty promise, Ade was determined to establish her own school where poor children could get their education for free. She set up an independent learning center (TKBM) at the level of junior high school at her mother's place in Pancoran, South Jakarta. "My typical students were trash-pickers, former buskers and laborers," Ade said.
Accredited by the government, TKBMs are eligible to receive School Operational Aid (BOS) and Education Operational Aid (BOP) worth Rp 160,000 ($19) per registered student per month from the government through partner state schools.
But Ade and six other TKBMs in Jakarta quickly ran into problems – they did not receive the promised money. In February last year, she, along with the other TKBMs, went to Indonesia Corruption Watch to report six state schools on suspicion of embezzling the government aid totaling Rp 5.7 billion between 2007 and 2009.
ICW then reported the schools to law enforcement authorities, including the Police, the Attorney General's Office, the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK), Jakarta's education office and the Public Information Commission (KIP).
Despite the BPK's audit report in November confirming possible misappropriations of the BOS and BOP totaling at least Rp 1.1 billion, investigations have stalled. The reason why is unclear.
Today, TKBMs such as Ade's are still struggling to get government aid. The disbursement should be done at the start of every quarter, but usually TKBMs only receive their funds at the end of the quarter.
"I still have to go back and forth to my state school to ask about the funds. Sometimes I have to return several times because they say it is not ready," said Helmi Ariestani, a woman who coordinated a similar operation from her parents' home in Johar Baru, Central Jakarta.
"After giving me the money, the school expected me to write an expense report, so we had to hurriedly use the money, sometimes in just two weeks."
Ade said her school once pressured her to sign a statement that she had received the funds in January when in reality she was only given them in March.
Officials claim that the problems this year are because of the trouble-plagued new system of distribution through local governments, which the Ministry of Education has said it will change next year. "There seems to be a lack of commitment from the regional governments," said Suyanto, a ministry official.
Suyanto said the ministry was transferring the funds to the provincial government by the seventh day of each month. "But we kept hearing, even in September, that some schools hadn't received anything from the first two quarters," he said.
Ade and Helmi's problems do not seem to be high on bureaucrats' list of priorities. Taufik Yudi Mulyanto, an official in the capital's Education Office, said that compared to the 300 state junior high schools that needed funds, TKBMs were a "minor issue."
"Yes, the system is not perfect yet, but we are still working on the bigger issue here. The interests of smaller groups will have to wait," he said.