Agus Maryono and Oyos Saroso H.N., Purwokerto, Bandarlampung – Parents of students enrolling at state-run senior high schools have protested over the school enrollment system, which they say is disorganized and marred by widespread collusion and nepotism.
In Banyumas, parents marched on the regency education agency Thursday, raising doubts about the supervision of schools, particularly those that had implemented the International Standard School Level (RSBI) system.
"The RSBI schools should focus on students' performance and scores in the selection process, not money and nepotism," said Budi Pranata, whose child was rejected from state high school SMUN 1 in Purwokerto, which has implemented the RSBI system.
"Students with good scores are not accepted, but many of those accepted are delegated by officials and scored low marks."
Another parent, Widiyawati, said her son, Reza, who finished junior high with good scores, also failed to get a place at the school.
"His friend who had lower scores than him was accepted," she told reporters outside the education office. "This raises suspicion. What's the standard for being accepted?"
Banyumas Regent Mardjoko later summoned the principals of SMUN 1 Sumaryono and SMUN 2 Sayono. Both acknowledged that some students who had been accepted had been entrusted by high-ranking officials and important figures in Banyumas.
"SMUN 1 principal Sumaryono admitted that around 36 students had been accepted through nepotism," Banyumas regency administration spokesman Agus Nurhadi told The Jakarta Post.
"This caused children with higher scores to be rejected. This is a worrying matter. The regent has sternly reprimanded these RSBI schools."
Mardjoko later ordered the schools to accept the rejected students and retain those who had gone through on nepotism, but place them in special classes.
"They've been accepted, so it's not ethical to reject them," Agus said. "We'll just require that a special classroom be provided for them."
In Lampung, meanwhile, parents have complained about exorbitantly high enrollment fees for new students at a number of top schools, which they said was due to the claims made by the schools that they had implemented the RSBI system.
Surono, 45, a resident of Sumberjaya in West Lampung, for instance, said he had to pay Rp 30 million (US$2,900) to get two of his children registered at state high school SMUN 2 in Bandar Lampung.
"I had to hand over Rp 15 million for each of them. That was just for 'school construction contribution', excluding other expenses, which could amount to Rp 250,000 per student monthly," the coffee farmer said Thursday.
"I had to sell some of my farmland, because I have to get three of my children into school this year – two in senior high and one in junior high," he added.
Placement coordinator at the RSBI-rated state high school SMAN 2 in Bandar Lampung, Supano, said the school needed Rp 1.2 billion for renovation this year. "The funds will be extorted from parents who pay between Rp 3 million and Rp 15 million in down payments," he said.
"We demand exorbitant amounts because an RSBI school needs a lot of money to teach computer and IT classes and build a number of facilities," said state junior high school SMP 2 principal Sartono.