Education for All is Free for the Community, Expensive for the State

Free basic education for the people of Yogyakarta continues to be the talk of various groups. For those who are in the area of ​​educational authority, they still think that education cannot be free. Accompanied by various arguments built to create an image that education is expensive and requires community participation (money). What is interesting is the remarks by the Governor of DIY at the May 2007 National Education Day, which can be concluded that free education needs to be considered and pursued in DIY. DIY Province has great potential, claiming to be the City of Education should prioritize its citizens so that they can easily get access to free and quality education. It should be remembered that other areas are no longer special, such as Sukoharjo, Jembrana, Banyuasin, Natuna and others, now providing free primary and secondary education for their citizens. Likewise, in areas where the cost of living and school supplies are high, the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government has provided free financing for public elementary school (SD) and junior high school (SMP) students in Jakarta.

It is hoped that from the 2005-2006 BOS pilot fund, the Minister of National Education hopes that the BOS funds should still be added to the education operational costs (BOP) borne by the regional budget so that they are sufficient to complete the compulsory education program, both free and near free in Indonesia. BOS is a subsidy from the central government, but the primary responsibility for primary and secondary education and Madrasah Ibtidaiyah lies with district/city governments. BOS is only assistance from the central government to finance district/city education. So the main education funding should come from the district/city government. However, several district/city governments have made BOS their main source of income, while regional budgets have only served as a complement, and some have even stopped BOP altogether after BOS was introduced.

In general, DIY is still facing problems of access and equity in education. There are still students dropping out of school, both for economic and non-economic reasons. Besides that, the uneven quality of education in DIY Province. The mindset and professional abilities of teachers are not satisfactory, e.g. related to the implementation of the new curriculum (KTSP). Meanwhile, several schools proclaimed themselves as national and even international standard schools which according to them resulted in an increase in the cost of education. According to experts, this increase in standards only connotes improvements in technology and facilities and infrastructure, but does not touch on the substance of actual quality. As a result of this standard claim, it creates public opinion that these schools do not provide fair access, especially for the poor who want to obtain educational facilities from the state. What is feared is the emergence of the stigma of discrimination in education, the poor are prohibited from going to school in DIY. Hopefully not.

In fact, we already have a commitment as outlined in the Legislation on education in Indonesia, as follows

A.1. 1945 Constitution, Chapter XIII, Article 31:
(1) Every citizen has the right to education.
(2) Every citizen is obliged to attend basic education and the government is obliged to finance it

A.2. 1945 Constitution, Chapter XIII, Article 31
(3) The state prioritizes the education budget of at least twenty percent of the state revenue and expenditure budget as well as from the regional revenue and expenditure budget to meet the needs of implementing national education.

B. National Education System Law No. 20 of 2003:

a. Fourth Part, Article 11

(1) The Government and Regional Governments are obligated to provide services and facilities, as well as guarantee the implementation of quality education for every citizen without discrimination.
(2) The Government and Regional Governments are obligated to guarantee the availability of funds to provide education for every citizen aged seven to fifteen years.

Chapter VIII article 34 paragraph 2: "The Government and Regional Governments guarantee the implementation of compulsory education at a minimum at the basic education level without charging a fee". The consequence that must be carried out by the Government is to provide an allocation of funds to finance all components of the Education Unit Cost, regardless of the Government's financial capacity.

Free education in question means freeing students from all fees imposed on students. If we are committed to DIY towards 12 Year Compulsory Education (School-age children must complete a minimum education of SMA/equivalent) as outlined in the Grand Strategy for Development in the Regional Government of the Province of DIY and the RPJM of the Regional Government of the Province of DIY for 2006-2011. The implication is that all obstacles that prevent children from pursuing senior secondary education must be removed. Likewise, in the Vision of the Jogjakarta City Government which is often conveyed in various media by officials that: There is no school-age population (kindergarten to high school/vocational school) in the City of Yogyakarta who does not attend school for economic reasons

That education is a citizen's right that must be given by the state (Government) to its people. People's difficulties with access to equitable and adequate education must be addressed with the Government's responsibility to make it happen through appropriate policy alternatives. Communities that in general are not yet able to independently fund the process of primary-secondary education are not continuously the target of fund mobilization. It is the government that must take the initiative to seek budget allocations with strategies and policies that are in favor of the people, not always having an alibi for the shadows of difficulties and unreasonable worries. The community has not yet seen the optimal utilization of the government budget, because the opportunities for waste are still wide open. Apart from that, the government has not felt a serious effort to serve the community in obtaining reasonable education guarantees.

The Jogjakarta Free Education Working Group has tried to calculate school operational needs in Unit Cost units in the form of Position Papers. This calculation is based on the results of a RAPBS survey in DIY, relating to the use of BOS funds in 2006. The average use of BOS funds in DIY is still close to 48% of the total school operational costs. The shortage (52%) is added up to reach the unit cost of school needs in DIY. Our APBD should bear the shortfall from the subsidized BOS funds. The results of this calculation are not a category of minimum needs, they can even be categorized at a level close to the need for excellent service.

The results of the DIY Education Working Group merely want to provide an overview of the total budget needs that must be provided by the Regency/City Government. is expected to be one of the references, as a material for estimating the percentage of the education budget according to the data. It is temporarily concluded that the total education budget requirement based on the unit cost multiplied by the number of school ages at each level in the districts/cities in the DIY region is around 9% of the total APBD. Of course there will be variations between each Regency / City. These costs are directly related to the operational needs of the school, not for indirect costs such as building construction funds and so on. It is hoped that every citizen affected by compulsory education will receive a guarantee of school fees from the Government. Hopefully this article can invite various parties to support the realization of Free Education for the community and expensive for the state. Because the state has committed to the welfare of its people, not just letting its citizens "compete" uncertainly in obtaining educational services.

Sunarto, Dr
Free Education Working Group Members