Principal moved for selling books

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Thu, 07/24/2008 10:41 AM | City

Deputy Governor Prijanto said Wednesday he discovered state high schools were collecting illegal fees after finding it affected his driver's child, a student in North Jakarta.

The principal of the high school, identified as Iman, was transferred to another school, Prijanto said.

Prijanto said Iman's transfer was under his order after it was proven Iman had required students to purchase textbooks from the school.

My driver's child was promoted to a higher level and then told he had to buy his textbooks from the school," he said at City Hall.

The child was required to pay for textbooks. The proof was the receipt for the book purchase.

A member of the City Council's Commission E on people's welfare, Igo Ilham, said a regulation had been issued prohibiting schools from requiring students to buy textbooks from their schools.

The Jakarta Elementary Education Agency also has issued such a regulation, according to Alliance of Parents for Education member Jumono.

He earlier said that according to an official letter from the agency, state elementary and junior high schools must not collect money from parents for any reason, including uniforms, textbooks and student entrance fees.

The letter was based on regulations on education expense management and a governor decree implemented in 2007, he said.

Some schools try to hide some of these regulations from parents. That's why many parents are uninformed and still regard fees for uniforms and books as normal charges, he said.

Since early June,the alliance and several other NGOs, including Indonesian Corruption Watch and the Suara Ibu Peduli, have set up five posts in East Jakarta, Central Jakarta and South Jakarta to receive public complaints concerning state elementary school admissions around Jakarta.

Jumono said he had received more than 25 complaints, mostly from parents who were facing difficulties in enrolling their children in state schools.

Many of the problems are related to documents such as birth certificates, family cards and proof-of-address letters, mostly faced by students enrolling in North Jakarta schools.

There are currently 11 complaints about illegal fees requested by either schools or teachers, ranging from Rp 500,000 to Rp 1.5 million.

Most parents who file complaints are afraid to reveal the school names because they do not want their children to be discriminated against or intimidated, Jumono said.

Secondary and Postsecondary Education Agency head Margani M. Mustar said Wednesday he had transferred 40 high school principals to elementary schools.

He denied, however, the moves were demotions.

The transfer of the 40 principals was part of a routine tour of duty; it had nothing to do with illegal fees. As for Iman's case, we're still investigating it, he said.

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