Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Legislators said Thursday the government should be able to allocate more money for the education sector, while thousands of teachers from Banten and West Java provinces marched through Jakarta to demand action on education.
Legislator Didik Rachbini, speaking at a seminar organized by the House of Representatives' education commission, said the government would be able to allocate the 20 percent of the state budget for education, as required by the Constitution, if it better managed its finances.
He said the government should manage its payment of foreign loans and bonds at some Rp 100 trillion annually, reduce the Rp 120 trillion in annual power and oil subsidies and increase efficiency efforts in other sectors.
Didik said Malaysia and Singapore allocated some 24 percent of their state budgets for education.
Commission chairman Masduki Baidlowi urged the government to prepare a fixed strategy and concrete education programs to be financed by the increased education budget.
"Increasing the education budget is not for raising teachers' salaries but for rehabilitating damaged education infrastructure and conducting a total reform of national education management in an effort to provide access for all to education and improve the quality of human resources," he said.
He also said the government should ensure schools to meet national standards for the nine-year compulsory education program.
"This is important as almost 70 percent of our workforce never went past elementary school. The majority of our migrant workers employed overseas are uneducated and unskilled," he said.
People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Hidayat Nurwahid said the government would be able to allocate 20 percent of the state budget for education if it had the political will.
"If the government intensifies tax collection efforts, it will be able to do it," he said. "I have information that leakage in tax revenue reaches 300 percent annually."
Hidayat also said he supported the Banten and West Java teachers' demands for more money.
The teachers rallied on Jakarta's main streets Thursday to force the government to allocate 20 percent of the budget for education and provide raises for the some 1.7 million teachers nationwide.
The teachers also demanded the government issue regulations on social security protection for teaching staff and on skills certifications. They also want the national exams axed as the lone determining factor for students' graduation.
The demonstration caused heavy traffic on the city's toll roads and main streets, as the teachers marched from the House building to the nearby Education Ministry and then to the State Palace.
"We will come again and stage bigger demonstrations until the government opens its eyes to the poor condition of education, including infrastructure and teaching staff. We are here to represent 1.7 million teachers nationwide and fight for our common interests," the chairman of West Java chapter of the Indonesian Teachers Association said during a meeting with leaders of the House and Regional Representatives Council.