Dewi Nurita, Jakarta – The Omnibus Law on Job Creation which was recently passed by the parliament apparently included the cluster of education. The Indonesian Teachers Union Federation (FSGI) feared it has the potential to become an entrance into education commercialization.
Article 26 of the law noted education institutions as one of the business sectors. In Article 65, it was said that the licensing in the education sector must be through the business licensing process stipulated in the law.
"The existence of these articles put education as a commodity that is traded," said FSGI Secretary-General, Heru Purnomo, in a written statement, Wednesday, October 7, 2020.
This meant education could be used to gain profit, while in fact, it is a social enterprise, Heru underlined.
Heru argued that the articles contrasted with the preamble of the 1945 Constitution that one of the objectives of the state is to educate the people, and Article 31 of the Constitution says that education is the rights of all citizens, and so the country is obliged to provide it under any conditions.
On September 25, 2020, the Education Ministry Secretary-General Ainun Na'im in a written statement said the government and the DPR Legislation Body (Baleg) agreed to remove the education cluster from the omnibus bill.
The DPR Baleg chairman Supratman Andi Atgas also said in the working committee meeting on September 28, 2020, that education and press clusters had been withdrawn from the omnibus bill on job creation.