Elly Burhaini Faizal, Jakarta – Perpetual corrupt practices in the educational system have stopped many children from getting a quality education even though the government raises the budget allocation for the sector annually, an anticorruption activist says.
The recent case of dilapidated schools across the country is said to have highlighted the government's unwillingness to upgrade the quality of education services.
Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) worker Febri Hendri said that despite recent increases in the education budget, damaged schools would likely remain unrepaired as politics played a key role in the process of disbursing funds to the schools.
"In many cases, the political process is glaringly obvious in each budget disbursement for school repairs," Febri told The Jakarta Post.
The ICW found that school officials in many areas had to lobby various people to persuade them to prioritize their school in the reconstruction projects funded by the Special Allocation Fund (DAK). Decisions reached in budget deliberations are often the result of repeated lobbying, he said.
So far this year, the government has handed over Rp 10 trillion (US$1.13 billion) in DAK funds to local governments, a significant increase from Rp 9 trillion in 2009 and only Rp 600 billion in 2005.
The government hoped that giving DAK funds to the local authorities would result in school repairs running smoothly. "But success in school repairs will also depend on how serious the local administrations are about taking part in school improvements by offering help from their own local resources," said Deputy Education Minister Fasli Jalal.
Regions with the highest number of heavily damaged schools may get Rp 60 billion each but will have to decide whether to repair only one or two classrooms at each school.
"They can fully reconstruct six classrooms (in elementary schools) at a same time, or repair just a half of the total classrooms this year and the remainder next year. We leave it completely up to them. But we hope they complete the school repairs before talking about other education facilities such as books, equipment and laboratories," Fasli told the Post.
In fact, school repairs are often far from equitable. Many classrooms that are in a reasonable condition are prioritized in reconstruction projects, while heavily damaged ones are ignored and then collapse.
"It often depends on what electorate the schools are in and which schools lobby local legislators. It's not fair but it happens quite often," said Fasli.
With the roofs of seven classrooms, including one electronics laboratory, having collapsed in 2010-2011, SMP Negeri 273 state junior high school in Kampung Bali, Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, is struggling to get repairs done.
In 2008, it received a block grant of Rp 40 million that was used to replace its worn ceramic tile flooring.
When visiting the school in February, Jakarta Deputy Governor Prijanto promised that the school, which was founded in 1952, would be repaired this fiscal year. For the umpteenth time, the promise has remained unfulfilled while the students are studying amid threats of further roof collapses.
Jatmoko Suyatno, SMPN 273's school committee chairman, said that despite strong support from the Central Jakarta Education Office head, local legislators had not approved the school's renovation proposal.
"I don't know why our renovation proposal always fails in the Jakarta Legislative Council (DPRD)," said Jatmoko.
The legislators, he said, should give the school clear clarification on the reason for the rejection so it would not have to face such uncertainty. "Anything can go wrong without proper transparency and accountability," he added.
Despite existing problems, Fasli said, the government was committed to continuing the reconstruction projects of dilapidated schools. "In 2012, we will provide Rp 10 trillion for rehabilitation projects, plus additional funds from the revised 2012 state budget for the renovation of about 8,000 classrooms," he said.
School repairs as well as post-earthquake school reconstruction in the regions would hopefully be completed by 2013.