Dessy Sagita – Despite the government's commitment to allocate one-fifth of the state budget to the education sector, there is still a long way to go before all children receiving a quality education, according to a comprehensive new study on local governance.

The Indonesian Governance Index 2012, released by community group Kemitraan (Partnership) on Monday, revealed none of Indonesia's 33 provinces were spending the intended 20 percent of their budgets on education, with one province allocating a mere 1 percent.

The report said some cities and districts were meeting the minimum, but the bulk of the money went toward paying salaries and overhead costs.

"Most provinces only scored around 3.02 in term of commitment to the education sector, and a score of 3 is at the lowest end of the scale while 7.8 is at the higher end. Yogyakarta got the highest score with 6.8," Lenny Hidayat, the principal researcher of the survey told the Jakarta Globe.

The score was based on factors such as transparency, effectiveness and fairness.

In terms of government spending per child per year for nine years of basic education, Aceh scored highest with Rp 954,510 ($84), while West Nusa Tenggara spent just Rp 4,511 per child per year.

Lenny said the survey showed regional autonomy was often misinterpreted by provincial governments. "Provincial governments claim they can't do much because municipal and district authorities set the budgets. But provincial governments need to ensure there are no disparities and that there is greater equality in spending," Lenny said.

Under decentralization, districts and cities are authorized to managed 25 out of 31 regional responsibilities, including education, but Lenny said they could not always cope with the extra workload.

"The districts are often overwhelmed and the provincial government needs to step in and help. The districts cannot be left alone," she said.