No More Charge in the Elementary and Junior High Schools

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Started from the year 2008, the Central Government stipulated that the elementary and junior high schools will be free of any more charges. If there is any of the schools take more charges, the government will give punishments to the schools.

Dodi Nandika, the Secretary General of National Education Department, in Jakarta, last weekend, said, “The socialization of the free nine year basic education has been done by the National Education Minister to all over the regions. The policy should be supported by the local government/regency since it is the mandate of the constitution.

The central government, Dodi said, has already added more subsidies for the free basic education. Therefore, if there are still any charges taken from the elementary and/or junior high school students, it is the local government responsibilities to give them punishments.
According to Dodi, the free basic education is absolutely prevailed in the public schools. While for the elementary and junior high school which is in the category of international standard school, more charges are allowed for the sake of keeping the education quality that needs more complete and qualified tools and infrastructure.

Dodi said that the key to implement the free nine year basic education this year is for the provincial/ local governments to add more school operational assistance taken from the local budget. Therefore, the free basic education can be achieved.
Dodi said, “The condition nowadays is getting better. More regions/regencies have added the school operational assistance from the local budget that allows the basic education to run. Even more, there is also a region that is able to implement the twelve basic education obligations,”


Governor Regulation

The stipulation of the free nine year basic education is responded by the provincial government of Papua. Barnabas Suebu, the Governor of Papua, in the beginning of March released a Governor Regulation number 5 year 2009 concerning the Free Education Fee for the Basic Education Obligation and Exemption Education Fee for the papua indigenous students in the senior high level.

He said, “If there are still more charges, the society may report it to the education office hotline and there must be a punishment for that,” Syahrul Yasin Limpo, the Governor of South Sulawesi, during the Rembuk Nasional Pendidikan 2009, explained that the most important thing in the free education the commitment of the local/ regency government along with the province. He further said, “Therefore, free is doesn’t mean not paying but being paid by the provincial, local/regency government”. ELN