Jakarta, July 13, 2012 – The Ministry of Education and Culture today hosted a special event today to showcase the achievements of its seven year old BOS (Bantuan Operasional Sekolah or School Operational Assistance) program. Since 2005, the Indonesian government has disbursed millions of dollars worth of block grants to schools across the country on a per student basis. This is a clear demonstration of Indonesia’s commitment to provide quality education to students of all income levels. BOS funds have enabled children from poor families to go to primary and junior secondary school. The event – like the program itself – is fully supported by the World Bank, the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the European Union and AusAID.
“We feel proud that the BOS program has received appreciation from a number of countries. This shows that what we have done, although we admit is not perfect, has inspired other countries to learn and replicate our work. This reflects the success of the BOS program,” said Minister of Education and Culture, Muhammad Nuh. He added\ that the BOS program hasreduced the number of school drop outs and the number of students who cannot continue studying to the junior secondary level after graduating from elementary school.
“Their home lives may be poor, but at school they are the same as other children, they have access to teachers, books, transport to school, even uniforms. For some families, the BOS program became the only way of sending their children through to junior high school,” said Indonesian Education and Culture Minister, Muhammad Nuh. “Moving forward, we want to push 16- to 18-year-olds so that they can finish their high school educations, whether they are at regular high schools, madrasah aliyah (Islamic) schools or vocational schools. Investing in the education of this age group would take advantage of a demographic boom in productive citizens between 2010 and 2035.”
Community involvement and transparency are key elements that contribute to the success of the BOS program. School committees comprising of parents and local community members are tasked with planning and monitoring the use of BOS grant funds. Annual plans and quarterly expenditure reports are publicly displayed on school notice boards, deterring corruption and misuse of funds.
“The World Bank is privileged to have supported a program that has made such an impact on the education of Indonesia’s future generation. After a 2008 review which found the program successful in helping schools and children, we sought to build on that success, by funding training for teachers and other activities that enhance educational quality,” said Stefan Koeberle, World Bank Country Director for Indonesia, commenting on the World Bank supported scale-up program, BOS-KITA (Knowledge Improvement for Transparency and Accountability).
Across the archipelago, the BOS program has helped transform the lives of children. In Aceh, it has helped poor students pay for school fees and books. In Yogyakarta, it has helped build computer labs and finance extra-curricular activities. In Bitung, North Sulawesi, it has made it possible for poor students to enter junior secondary school – breaking the cycle of poor families only being able to educate their children up to primary school.
“Education has always been an important pillar of the Dutch government’s development cooperation with Indonesia. It is very encouraging to see that our support has led to stronger school-based management, overall,” said Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Indonesia, Tjeerd de Zwaan. “Our government’s Basic Education Capacity Trust Fund for Indonesia has helped finance a range of activities which among other things has led to the decentralization of BOS funds, rewards for good school performance, as well as the creation of a complaints handling system.”
“The European Union shares Indonesia’s view that quality education is a driver of strong and sustainable economic growth and a vital element in the fight against poverty and social injustice,” said Ambassador/Head of EU Delegation to Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam and ASEAN, Julian Wilson. “BOS is an important component of the Government’s efforts towards improving the delivery and quality of education at school level and increasing access for all children. I am particularly pleased that our support, through several of our cooperation programs and along with other development partners, has contributed to its success.”
“Promoting opportunities for all is one of the strategic goals of ’s aid program AusAID. In education this means enabling more children, particularly girls, to attend school for a longer and better education so they have the skills to build their own futures and, in time, escape poverty,” said the Australian Ambassador to Indonesia, Greg Moriarty. “With BOS, we’re very proud to have been able to support a nationwide training program, reaching 640,000 participants –school principals, treasurers and community representatives from all schools including madrasahs.”
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The BOS program provides funding to schools for non-salary operational expenditures. It aims to reduce schools fees as well as supports quality-enhancing spending for all public and private primary and junior secondary schools in Indonesia. Prior to the BOS program, schools raised contributions from parents to cover their operational expenses.
The BOS program covers around 44 million students in 228,000 primary and secondary schools. The per-pupil BOS allocation has increased from Rp 397,000 to Rp 580,000 per primary student and from Rp 570,000 to Rp 710,000 per junior secondary student per year in 2012. By increasing the amount of discretionary funds available to schools, the BOS program is paving the way for greater autonomy and accountability in the education system.
In 2012, the BOS program will spend US$3.07 billion (Rp 27.67 trillion), which represents about 8 percent of total education spending in Indonesia. The BOS allocation has increased five-fold from US$560 million in 2005 to US$3.07 billion in 2012.
Program BOS telah menunjang:
- Peningkatan angka partisipasi siswa SD dan SMP.
- Peningkatan partisipasi siswa SMP yang berasal dari keluarga miskin dan mengurangi kesenjangan antara kelompok pendapatan.
- Mengurangi tingkat drop out siswa terutama di SMP
- Peningkatan pendanaan sekolah terutama untuk sekolah-sekolah kurang mampu.
- Pengurangan korupsi dan penyalahgunaan dana.
- Penguatan akuntabilitas termasuk pelaporan di tingkat sekolah
