Jakarta (Republika: (22/02/07) The government says it is unable to fulfill its obligation to allocate 20 of the State Budget for education spending. However, the limited budget is expected to be channeled to private universities proportionally.“The Vice President said that the government is not ready to set aside 20% of the state budget for education due to the limited infrastructure and capacity building of the Ministry of National Education concerning the disbursement and its utilization,” said Head of Private Universities Advisory Council (BMPS), Ahmad Fathoni Rodli, after meeting with Vice President Jusuf Kalla at the latter’s office in Jakarta on Wednesday (21/2).

According to Fathoni, the government finds difficulties to fulfill the percentage, not the figure. Bigger state budget requires bigger education spending. “The vice president was eager to fulfill the requirement, however, everyone finds difficulties to meet the 20% limit,” he explained. BMPS realizes the problems facing the government. However, Fathoni hopes that the government would be able to fulfill what has been mandated by the Constitution, both in the level of national budget (APBN) or regional budget (APBD). “The Constitution requires 20% of the state budget and 20% of the regional budget should be set a side for education spending which is a very dignified mandate for the development of the nation’s intellectuality and future investment of the children of the nation,” he reminded.

Fathoni went to the vice president’s office accompanied by other BMPS executives, such as Secretary General Jerry Rudolf Sirait, Deputy Chairman Husni Thoyyar, and Deputy Chairman Agustinus Suyatno. Aside of education budget, Fathoni also asked the government to allocate education fund for private universities proportionally. He hopes there would be a new paradigm to treat private universities more fairly because private universities also contribute an important role in developing the national education.

He suggested the education budget to be channeled based on quotas. The sub of education budget disbursed to schools will be determined by the number of students in the school in question, not only state schools, but private schools as well. ‘BMPS central board really appreciates the Ministry of Religious Affairs that has allocated 90% of its budget for private schools, especially madrasah whose number reaches 93 %,” he said.