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[Republika] Proclaims 12 Year Compulsory Education, Quality of Basic Education Services Still Low

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REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA — When 12 years of compulsory education began to be implemented, the Ministry of Education and Culture (Kemendikbud) was still faced with the low quality of basic education services. According to the Article 33 Indonesia Social Development Program Manager, Lukman Hakim, the lack of availability of school facilities and infrastructure is the main factor in the low quality of basic education services.

"The low availability of facilities and infrastructure is not only due to the absence of a budget but also because there is no standard unit cost of investment in facilities and infrastructure that can be used as a budgeting reference," said Lukman in a dialogue held by the Ministry of Education and Culture with civil society at the Ministry of Education and Culture Building, Jakarta, Thursday (7 /1).

He said that missing the target for fulfilling school facilities and infrastructure which is the target for Minimum Service Standards (SPM) is a problem that must be resolved immediately before the government rolls out 12-year compulsory education.

Lukman continued, until now there has been no clear basis regarding budget planning provisions for educational infrastructure. He said, the education department usually only refers to calculations carried out by other parties, such as the public works department.

"The central government can create guidelines for calculating budget needs for facilities and infrastructure, making it easier for regional governments to refer to guidebooks for regions to prepare budget plans for educational facilities," he said.

Therefore, he said, there is a need to improve data collection on educational facilities and infrastructure both at the central and regional levels which can later become a reference in financing planning. Moreover, he said, the quality of data collection on facilities and infrastructure in many regions in Indonesia is still weak, because there is no incentive mechanism in the process of inputting funds from schools into the system.

"Unlike student data linked to school operational assistance programs where student data is always available on time, infrastructure data is relatively lagging behind. In my opinion, it is necessary to think about a more effective mechanism for making data available up to date," he explained.

Apart from that, Lukman also believes that there is a need to map out a budgeting scheme for educational facilities and infrastructure. The facility and infrastructure financing scheme, he said, could come from the central government, provincial government and district/city government.

"Need roadmap "fulfilling the need for educational infrastructure to support educational services and the implementation of 12 year compulsory education," he said.

Illustration ANTARA FOTO/Syaiful Arif

Rep: C39/ Red: Julkifli Marbun

http://www.republika.co.id/berita/pendidikan/eduaction/16/01/08/o0lp96317-canangkan-wajib-belajar-12-tahun-mutu-layanan-pendidikan-dasar-masih-rendah