Jakarta, 16 August 2006: State address of the president of the Republic of Indonesia and the government statement and its financial note before the plenary session of the house of representatives of the republic of Indonesia.

In 2006, the Government has provided the School Operational Assistance (BOS) for the nine-year basic education to 29.4 million students equivalent to SD, and to 10.5 million students equivalent to the junior high school SMP, who are categorized as poor. At the senior high school level or equivalent to the SMA, scholarships were made available to more than 698 thousand poor students. The number of SD students and its equivalent reaches 41 million. Meanwhile, for the secondary level now total 6.4 million students. This amount has surpassed the intended target for the 2005/2006 school year. Therefore, the neglect of the opportunity to have an education, especially for the poor people, step by step has been overcome.

The Government has seriously encouraged and opened education opportunities for every child in Indonesia. Meanwhile, the number of subdistricts/municipalities that have succeeded in completing the 9-year compulsory education programme at the end of 2004/2005 has reached 142 subdistricts/municipalities. This figure has increased from 77subdistricts/municipalities at the end of 2003/2004.

In parallel to the strong will and seriousness of the Government to increase the budget for education, in line with the mandate of the Constitution and the Law on National Education System, the revitalization of education continue to be conducted to further increase the quality of education. In this context, we must be grateful that in August of this year, our best students succeeded in winning 28 gold medals in various international competitions in the fields of science, mathematics, arts and sports. Among them, there is a student by the name of Jonathan Pradana Mailoa, who earned the accolade as The Absolute Winner in the 2006 International Physics Olympiad in Singapore. This success has broken the dominance of Chinese students, and defeated his competitors from the United States, Germany, and Australia. Meanwhile, Rudolf Surya Bonay, a student from Papua, succeeded in winning The First Step to Nobel Prize in the field of Chemistry. The successes should strengthen the conviction on the capacity of our young generation, and compel all of us to work harder in improving the quality of education in Indonesia.

The budget allocation for education experiences a significant increase. At the present time, the expenditure of the government for education ---by using a large definition--- has reached 4.1 percent of the GDP, which is still below the international average of 5 percent. I am convinced that, through determined efforts, the target will be achieved within the next 2-3 years. In the 2007 Draft State Budget, the government proposes an education budget based on the functional approach amounting to Rp. 51.3 trillion, or an increase of 18.5 percent compared to the 2006 State Budget 2006, which amounted to 43.3 trillion.

The expenditure does not include expenditure for the salary of teachers, which is part of the General Allocation Fund (DAU) and the Special Allocation Fund (DAK) for the education sector and the service budget. The Government continues to seriously endeavour to increase the budget for education, be it nominally but also in its ratio to expenditure of the central government, with a view to meeting the mandate of the Law on National Education System.

PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA,

Sgd.

DR. H. SUSILO BAMBANG YUDHOYONO

http://www.indonesia.go.id/en/index.php/index.php/content/view/841/701/