Purwerejo (Kedaulatan Rakyat: 13/07/06) Education, especially in Purworejo Regency is getting more deplorable. Aside of the low quality offered, schools also continue to burden parents of enrolling students with various charges

 “I hope there will be no more registration fee, quotation for diploma and other charges. We will calculate all those expenses to be included in the regional budget (APBD),” said head of Purworejo Regency Council Angko Setiyarso Widodo, on Wednesday (07/12).

Moreover, according to Angko, the School operational assistance for elementary schools and junior high school  could be used to cover all expenses in student registration  “How come there are still many schools asking new students to pay quite a lot of money?” he regrets.

Many parents have been complaining over schools policy asking a huge sum of money for registration, admission fee or souvenirs from graduating students. “They feel this too burdensome; but they cannot do anything. Such a thing should not have happened,” he said.

He explained, that the education is now directing toward economy, not technology and knowledge; therefore the product is also the same. They believe that education should be compensated with a lot of money, after the graduation, thus, they have the same orientation. “A school is not a place to sell diplomas,” he asserted.

Standardization
Commenting on the high failure rate in the recent national examination, Angko is in the opinion that teachers’ quality standardization is necessary. We have to be firm concerning teachers qualification. “They need to be tested again to find out whether they are qualified to teach or not. If they are not qualified, it is impossible to produce good students.

Meanwhile, students have to fulfill the national standard. If there’s no national standardization for teachers, it is unfair,” he added, students would not be able to achieve the national standard if their teachers are also below the standard.

Related to contractual teachers and school staff complains concerning their remuneration, Members of the Commission D of Purworejo Council Fransisca Romaya Yatini asserted the funds for their remuneration have been allocated, and it is included in the education operational funds channeled though National Education Ministry. The amount reaches Rp 13 billion.

“Aside for school assistance, the money will be used to pay for contractual teachers and school staff’s remuneration. I hope contractual teachers and school staff report to the Education Agency if there is any problem with their remuneration,” she said adding that she has raised the question concerning remuneration to the education agency who said that there is no problem with it.

Besides for contractual teachers and school staff’ remuneration the operational assistance could be used to cover other expenses like over time compensation, among other things, thus it would help improving teachers’ welfare.