Saur Panjaitan representing the Private Education Consultative Body (Badan Musyawaran Pendidikan Swasta) delivering testimony during a continued judicial review hearing of Law Number 20 of 2003 on National Education System, Thursday (03/10). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.
Jakarta, MKRI—The Constitutional Court held a judicial review hearing of Law Number 20 of 2003 on National Education System (Sisdiknas Law) on Thursday, October 3, 2024, at the Plenary Courtroom. Case Number 3/PUU-XXII/2024 was filed by the Indonesian Education Monitoring Network and three individual petitioners, Fathiyah, Novianisa Rizkika, and Riris Risma Anjiningrum. Fathiyah and Novianisa are housewives.
Saur Panjaitan, representing the Private Education Consultative Body (BMPS) in the hearing, said that BMPS opposed to private schools being prohibited from collecting fees from the public. Thus, he continued, BMPS rejected the petition against Law Number 20 of 2003 on National Education System, Article 34 paragraph (2) along the phrase “ Mandatory Education at the Basic Education Level without charging fees” as long as it is not interpreted as “Mandatory Education at the Basic Education Level is carried out in Public Schools and Private Schools without charging fees”.
Saur said that if this petition is granted, while so far private schools have only been subsidized by the government through BOS funds, teacher certification, and others, only about 15% of their operational costs, then BMPS recommends an increase in subsidies. In addition, BMPS recommends that all private teachers be given teacher certification benefits immediately, not only for teachers who teach in primary education but also for those who teach in secondary education. A second recommendation related to teacher certification, no less important, is to increase the amount of the Teacher Certification Allowance.
“BMPS proposes that it does not discriminate where the student goes to school, but looks at the condition of their financial capacity, for example, categorized into 3 groups, namely group 1 is fully funded by the government, group 2 is partially subsidized by the government, and group 3 is not subsidized by the government, even contributing fully/ paying wherever they go to school, both in private and public schools,” he said.
Then, he also asked the Government to review one of the main problems in managing private schools related to financing, starting from the process of admitting new students (PPDB), where there are policies that make it difficult for private schools to plan their financing because it is strongly influenced by the number of students they accept.
Therefore, on this occasion, BMPS proposes linking the issue of financing in private schools to the PPDB policy. BMPS proposes that the government take into account and involve the capacity of private schools at the basic education level (elementary and junior high school) in every PPDB.
Saur also requested that ASN teachers continue to serve in private schools because teachers are one of the important variables in implementing education. BMPS recommends that the Government is obliged to help private schools by placing ASN teachers as needed, as is the case in universities (DPK Lecturers), and/or teachers who are appointed as P3K who come from private schools are still returned to private schools (seconded teachers).
On the same occasion, Harianto Oghie representing the Ma'arif NU Education Institute of PBNU (LP Ma'arif NU) said that the free education policy by not collecting fees from students and without optimal financial support from the government could threaten the sustainability of the education system, especially for private schools, and could damage the quality of education in general. A better solution is to ensure adequate subsidies and fair arrangements between public and private education so that the quality and sustainability of education are maintained.
Therefore, LP Ma'arif NU proposed that the government optimizes education subsidies to economically disadvantaged students, especially in private schools, in accordance with Article 46, paragraph 1 of Law Number 20 of 2003, which states, “Education funding is a shared responsibility between the Government, Regional Governments, and the community.” Thus, the principle of social justice is maintained without compromising the sustainability and quality of education in private institutions.
“Then, develop and provide ideal education operational cost standards to ensure that public and private schools can operate properly through the implementation of quality education. Thus, there is no inequality in education financing between schools, either public or private,” Harianto explained.
He also asked for the state's presence in the form of subsidizing schools organized by the community, as this is very important and vital so that the private school budget is sufficient, education runs well, teachers are more professional, and the costs are affordable to the community, or even free fees for some people.
In addition, education organized by the government and the community must be able to overcome the access, equity and quality of education issues. However, the policy cannot be fit to all, there must be a different approach to proportional education policy. The presence of LP Ma'arif NU schools in marginalized areas, for example, is to address access issues. The existence of LP Ma'arif NU schools in disadvantaged and marginalized areas is certainly not possible to ask for fees from the community. Conversely, the request for community contributions to the financing of private schools in non-marginalized areas is reasonable and permissible so that the community's need for education can be met and its quality maintained.
In addition to subsidizing education costs, Harianto continued, the government must maintain private school teachers who are appointed as PPPK teachers or civil servant teachers to remain on duty in their original private schools or madrasah before being appointed, not transferred to public schools or madrasah, so that these private madrasah schools are more advanced and the budget for organizing costs charged to the community is also reduced.
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The Petitioners tested the norm of Article 34 paragraph (2) of the National Education System Law along the phrase “compulsory education at the basic education level without charging fees”. Article 34 paragraph (2) of the National Education System Law states, “The government and regional governments guarantee the implementation of compulsory education at the basic education level without charging fees.”
Previously, the Petitioners stated that the phrase was multi-interpretive, as only basic education carried out in public schools was free of charge. The Petitioners argued that the basic education level without charging fees is only carried out in public schools. Meanwhile, the basic education level carried out in private schools is still charged. Therefore, Article 34 paragraph (2) of the National Education System Law, along with the phrase “compulsory education at the basic education level is free of charge”, has created legal uncertainty. This is a form of educational discrimination.
For this reason, in their petitum, the Petitioners ask the Court to declare Article 34 paragraph (2) of the National Education System Law as long as the phrase “compulsory education at the basic education level is free of charge” is conditionally unconstitutional with the 1945 Constitution and has no binding legal force as long as it is not interpreted as “compulsory education at the basic education level which is carried out in public schools and private schools without charging fees”.
Author : Utami Argawati.
Editor: Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR: Raisa Ayuditha Marsaulina.
Translator: Rizky Kurnia Chaesario (NL)
Disclaimer: The original version of the news is in Indonesian. In case of any differences between the English and the Indonesian versions, the Indonesian version will prevail
Thursday, October 03, 2024 | 14:11 WIB 44