Finance of education: Part I

Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies

Volumn 7, Issue 3, 1971, Pages 61-95

  Daroesman, Ruth ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 0040447711     PISSN: 00074918     EISSN: 14727234     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/00074917112331331912     Document Type: Article

References (33)

1. Hereafter referred to as the Department of Education.
2. The data in this paper refer only to schools or areas visited by the author. The school finance study conducted by the Assessment Project included about 200 schools, but questionnaires for all of these were not available to the author at the time of writing. The general proportions reported by that team do not conflict with data given here although some variation is found. The data for West Java in the 1970 survey related to 1969 before the main civil service salary raises and are thus not comparable to those for South Sulawesi and West Sumatra which refer to income and expenditure in 1970. Where proportions only are given, data for West Java are included, but where actual or average income or expenditures are given in rupiah, they are excluded.
3. The Department Central Office; the Directorate General of Education, which includes sections for each level and type of education, including higher education; the Inspectorate General; the Directorate General of Sports and Youth; Directorate General of Cultural Affairs; and the Centre for Development and Research.
4. While the formal curricula of these schools differ, lack of finance to provide practical equipment, laboratories, etc., and lack of specially trained teachers mean that the actual instruction offered often differs only slightly among the various types of school.
5. These schools are not to be confused with general education schools run by religious organisations. In this paper, religious schools will refer to those schools operated by the Department of Religion in which at least 50 per cent of the curriculum is composed of leligious subjects. Schools operated by Islamic, Christian or other religious bodies which offer the curriculum set out by the Department of Education are included in the subsidised, aided or private school categories of the Department of Education.
6. Except for experimental primary schools which are supported directly by the Department of Education.
7. Enrolment figures for purely private schools should probably not be taken at face value. In some kabupaten, the statistics on private schools and enrolments reported to the Department of Education were simply the current cumulative total from a list, unrevised for an unstated number of years, of all purely private schools which had ever requested registration. Enrolments were those originally claimed by the school at the time of request for registration. No inspections had ever been made of these schools and officials stated that it was possible that no more than about 10 per cent of them were still operating.
8. This practice developed during the 1960s, partly in response to urgings from the teachers' unions, to allow more teachers to become headmasters and so increase their meagre incomes during the period of inflation. There seems to have been no other rationale for this system which in all other respects simply increases administrative overhead and complexity, A school may split as soon as it has 9 classes so long as it has at least 20 students enrolled. While efforts are being made in some provinces to amalgamate schools, this seems to be designed to make better use of teachers, not to reduce the number of administrative units.
9. This expedient arose when a ban on new school construction was imposed several years ago as an emergency economy measure.
10. It has not been possible to establish what criteria are used to decide which of the many schools applying may be awarded status.
11. A. R. Prest, ‘Internal Fiscal Policies and Education Programmes in Development Nations’ in OECD Study Group in the Economics of Education, Financing of Education for Economic Growth, Paris, 1966, pp. 17–30.
12. ‘People in outlying regions do not like paying more taxes unless they see just what they are going to get for the money’ W. A. Lewis, Some Aspects of Economic Development, London, George Allen and Unwin, 1969, pp. 50.
13. There appears to be no pressure on parents to educate their children if they are not prepared or are financially unable to pay fees, but there was evidence that social pressure was exerted in some communities on parents to educate their children in particular types of schools (such as religious rather than secular schools).
14. BIES VII.1, p. 29.
15. The use of multiple criteria as a basis for determining grants or payments is not uncommon in Indonesia. BIES VI.2 July 1970, p. 67.
16. In South Sulawesi, about 18 per cent of applicants (in schools in survey) could not be admitted to grade 1 for lack of space. In West Sumatra, about 4 per cent of applicants for grade 1 were not admitted.
17. Article 8 of the Peraturan Umum Tentang Sumbangan Pembinaan Pendidikan Pemberian Darma—Siswa dan Bea-Siswa, [General Regulation on Contributions for the Support of Education, Provision of Free Places and Scholarships] No. 099/1971, dated 3 May 1971
18. These terms are in use throughout the country. In the regions visited, other terms were in use as well: ‘regional teachers' (guru daerah) were employed from the province or kabupaten’s own funds (i.e.: not dependent upon permission from the Education Department and usually not reported in the statistics of teachers employed sent by lower to higher levels of government) at rates of about Rp 500–1500 a month, usually in rural primaries where teachers were lacking. Voluntary teachers (guru sukarela) or (guru sosial) worked without regular pay but with small contributions, sometimes as little as Rp 100–500 a month, from POMG funds or from donations made by other teachers. These teachers are normally not reported in statistics except to that authority which is responsible for paying them.
19. According to 1970 preliminary statistics published by the Department, women teachers account for only about 30 per cent of the total in state primary schools, but these figures refer only to 13 provinces reporting out of 26. In South Sulawesi and West Sumatra, not included in the above average, women constitute over 70 per cent of the state primary school teaching force.
20. Another factor which may affect pupil-teacher ratios, but which is even more important as an indication of the wastage rate, is attrition during the school year. Total enrolment in survey schools in December showed a drop of nearly 10 per cent from January enrolments. Headmasters claimed that dropouts during the year were almost always on account of family moves to other areas. While this may be so, 90 per cent of the schools in the survey showed enrolment decreases, while only 10 per cent showed increases or remained the same throughout the year.
21. Almost all primary teachers in rural areas reported additional income from own farms or from petty trading, but second jobs were rare among urban primary teachers.
22. BIES No. 11, October 1968, p. 59.
23. Ibid.
24. The problems associated with these supplements, bringing teachers' salaries well above those for other civil servants of the same rank, the difficulties of withdrawing the supplements even after the salary raises, etc. will be discussed more fully in Part II.
25. In 1969 there were reported to be 217, 000 state primary schools classrooms (or 4.2 rooms per school) for 10.2 million pupils. The survey data indicate that overcrowding is still more severe, since in many schools, some classrooms are used for offices, teachers' rooms and occasionally for housing for teachers.
26. Laporan Survey dan Seminar Pendidehan Agama Pada Perguruan Umum [Report of a Survey and Seminar on Religious Education in General Schools], Department of Religion, Djakarta, 1 June 1970, and 1970 statistics on schools, enrolments and teachers, one page typescript, provided by the Department of Religion.
27. Reports by the various departments provided to Mrs C. M. Widodo, Finance Task Force, Assessment of Education Project.
28. BIES VI.2, July 1970, p. 69.
29. Ibid.
30. Unesco Statistical Yearbook 1968, Table 2.18.
31. L, H. S. Emerson, Education in Indonesia (draft report, mimeographed) Djakarta, July 1968
32. Finance of Education in Indonesia, Report of Finance Task Force (draft report, mimeographed), Djakarta, PPNP, Department of Education, 1970.
33. Emerson used an estimate of Rp 830 billion; subsequently the Central Statistical Bureau published a revised estimate of Rp 2000 billion which was used by Widodo and White