•    HOME   
•    NEWS   
•    BUSINESS   
•    INTERNATIONAL   
•    TECH   
•    SPORTS   
•    LIFE & TIMES   
•    OPINION   
•    MY JAKARTA   
•    BLOGS   

Even though an anticorruption watchdog has demanded it, a thorough report is yet to be completed into how funds granted to state schools to attain international certification are being utilized, the minister of national education has confirmed.

Education Minister Muhammad Nuh on Friday said that an evaluation of schools attempting to obtain international standards certification (RSBI) could not be completed because the budget allocation (APBS) was still yet to be finalized.

“The APBS will end when the academic year ends on June 31,” Nuh said. “That’s when we can start evaluating, and maybe the result will be out by August.”

Nuh was speaking after the inauguration of the new rector of Airlangga University in Surabaya on Friday.

Indonesia Corruption Watch on Thursday approached the Education Ministry to seek a complete report from the government regarding the use of funds allocated for RSBI.

According to a 2003 law on education, every district and city is obliged to have at least one RSBI school at the elementary, junior high and high school level, with the aim of developing fully certified schools across the country.

RSBI schools are required to conduct lessons in both Indonesian and English, have smaller class sizes and use a curriculum integrating national and international education standards, including adopt a curriculum from a developed nation.

Each selected school is given a block grant of between Rp 300 million and Rp 500 million ($33,000 and $55,000) a year for equipment purchases and to improve human resources.

Febri Hendri, a senior researcher with ICW, said the RSBI funding would only widen the gap between the rich and poor and limit equal access to education. “The grant allocation is not transparent,” he said. “We demand an accountability report.”

Investigations by ICW, Febri claimed, had discovered indications of embezzlement of some of the RSBI funds. In 2007, the group investigated a Jakarta state school that had nearly Rp 150 million in receipts that had allegedly been faked.

Nuh said the ministry’s RSBI funding program would ensure schools not only had an excellent academic record, with a minimum grade point average of 7.5 out of 10, but were also accountable in managing the grants — not only using the money to pay their employees, but also to improve facilities that supported academic activities.

He said RSBI schools were also required to meet the government’s strict human resources standards, with teachers needing to have a TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) score of at least 500.

School admission procedures would also be checked to ensure students were being selected on academic merit, not financial means, he added.