Candra Malik, Solo – A Corruption Eradication Commission pilot program for schools in Solo, Central Java, is creating panic among school principals who are concerned that they could face jail sentences for accepting gifts from the parents of their students.

It is no secret that schools impose additional and illegal fees on parents wishing to enrol their children in school, and that school principals often receive gifts and donations from parents – including those who want to see their children excel in school, at least on paper.

Dedie A. Rachim, the director of public services and education at the commission, also known as the KPK, warned the 250 principals gathered at Solo City Hall on Monday for an introduction to the pilot program that anyone who accepted a bribe could face a jail term of 4 to 20 years.

He also said the KPK would increase its focus on eliminating corruption within the education sector.

The program to be taught in schools consists of nine modules: honesty, discipline, responsibility, modesty, hard work, self-sufficiency, fairness, bravery and caring.

"The basic aim of the nine anticorruption modules is to establish model teachers for students to look up to," Dedie said. "These pupils then have a better chance of growing up to form an anti-corruption generation."

However, Kuswanto, a former principal of a state high school in Solo, who now works as a supervisor for Solo's Education and Sports Office, acknowledged that when he worked as a principal, he received donations that included computers and books, and that many parents had requested special favors, including special enrollment assistance, better grades for their children and even about graduation.

"What is the definition of a gift? If on your retirement you receive a memento from colleagues, students, parents or schools, are you going to be charged, too?" Kuswanto asked.

Unggul Sudarmo, the principal of State High School 5 in Solo, wanted to know exactly what came under the heading "state money," and whether the donations from parents and other parties are included in that category.

Unggul also pointed out that the moral values the KPK sought to focus on in the nine training modules were already taught in other subjects, and he said that the students themselves were not really the problem.

"Actually the commission's nine values are already a part of virtue, religion and Pancasila [state ideology] lessons in schools. And the problem of corruption often begins with the parents... they come to the principal's office when their child does not graduate or obtain a certain grade and offer bribes," Unggul said.

He also added that the KPK program would place an additional burden on teachers and would be difficult to include in the current curriculum.

"There are teachers who will have no problems teaching this, but science teachers, for example, will face some difficulties as moral excellence and science have little in common," Unggul said.

The program would also burden students, he claimed.

Kuswanto also questioned how the success of the program would be measured, whether additional hours would be required to implement the program and whether the student's corruption score would be included in the report card.

"The KPK program is not part of the national curriculum and there has been no cooperation with the Ministry of National Education," he said. "If this program is included, we are worried it will lessen the students' focus on their main studies, including the national examinations."

Didie said the modules that aimed to rebuild moral excellence could be inserted into any lesson without imposing any additional burden on the schools, adding that the KPK would be happy to grade the students' performances.

Solo Mayor Joko Widodo asked the principals to implement the program properly. As educational centers, schools should be transparent and a model for society, not corrupt, he said.

"I receive many complaints from the public about fee-collecting schools," he said. "I've already asked all schools in Solo for finance reports and I will use the reports to find out which schools are collecting fees. And I'll act on it."

KPK also said that 80 percent of the cases it handled were related to corruption in procurement processes, such as the purchase of school books.

KPK is targeting 40 cities as pilots for the program.