Education is one of the main keys to improving the quality of life of the community and encouraging the progress of the nation. But in reality, there are still many problems that need to be addressed by the government so that the goal of national progress can be realized through quality education.
One problem that is quite troubling is illegal levies or commonly called extortion, extortion is not only financially detrimental but also adversely affects the quality of education and access to equitable education.
Extortion can be a barrier for children from underprivileged families to access education. Arbitrary fees make it difficult for many parents to fulfill their children's educational needs. Some of the levies include registration fees, uniform fees, money to buy workshop equipment, textbook fees and more recently, students are required to buy exam papers for each subject. Even trivial things like paper become material for irresponsible people to make profits.
The government, through the Ministry of Education and Culture, has issued a regulation governing school fees through Minister of Education and Culture Regulation No. 44/2012 on Education Fees and Contributions in Primary Education Units. The regulation distinguishes between levies, donations, education funding and education costs. In this regulation, it is written that education is the right and obligation of the government to organize compulsory education without charge.
Despite these written regulations, levies are still common in public schools. This is where levies become illegal, even though many parents choose to send their children to public schools because the costs are covered by the government. The government does help with funding through the School Operational Assistance (BOS) program. The source comes from the State Budget (APBN) and the Regional Budget (APBD).
According to the Regulation of the Minister of Education and Culture No. 26/2017 on the Technical Guidelines for School Operational Assistance, the amount of BOS funds for students at the primary school level is Rp 800,000/student/year, at the junior high school level it is Rp 1,000,000/student/year, while at the senior high school level it is Rp 1,400,000/student/year which is distributed every 3 months, which are from January-March, April-June, July-September, and October-December.
The funds should have been used as well as possible to improve the quality of learning by the school, but the opposite happened, the money was more often used for personal interests or certain groups. This has caused school facilities to be inadequate, teachers to be less motivated, and the learning process to be ineffective, not to mention that the Minister of Education and Culture, Nadiem Makarim, has increased the amount of BOS funds from 30 to 40 percent, which could be a means of seeking profit for irresponsible individuals.
The impact of extortion in schools is vast and complex. In addition to hampering access to and quality of education, extortion can also trigger various other problems, such as corruption. If left unchecked, extortion practices will continue to undermine the education system in Indonesia and hinder the nation's progress.
Solutions such as the increase in the amount of BOS funds are actually appropriate, but must also be followed by an increase in supervision, the government needs to increase supervision of extortion practices in schools through the Clean Sweep Task Force on Illegal Levies (Satgas Saber Pungli), because the weak control and supervision system by the government can increase extortion behavior.
Transparency in financial management by schools can also be a solution to minimize extortion. The perpetrators of extortion must also be given strict sanctions in accordance with applicable law, which is, if extortion is carried out by state employees, for example teachers or principals, then the extortionist can be subject to Article 12 letter e of Law No. 20 of 2001 concerning Corruption Crimes, with life imprisonment or imprisonment for a minimum of 4 years and a maximum of 20 years, a fine of at least Rp 200 million and a maximum of Rp 1 billion. Meanwhile, extortionists other than civil servants can be charged with Article 368 paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code (KUHP), which reads: "Anyone who threatens or forces another person to give something is subject to a maximum imprisonment of nine years".
However, the above solutions will not be implemented if there is a lack of citizens contribution, the citizens needs to be actively involved in efforts to eradicate extortion through socialization and education.
