Larger education spending increases corruption: ICW

The Jakarta Post | Mon, 09/14/2009 10:19 AM | National

On Friday, the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) reported 142 graft cases, which allegedly took place at various institutions within the national education sector between 2004 and 2008, to the KPK for further monitoring and investigation.

“We want the [Corruption Eradication Commission] to monitor graft cases being tried at district courts and the legal processing of many cases that has remained stagnant, and also to investigate many cases in regions that have gained little attention from the general public,” ICW researcher Febri Hendri said after handing over a report on the 142 cases to the commission.

The cases were worth a total of Rp 243 billion and implicated 287 individuals, mostly public officials and school principals, Febri said. He cited numerous forms of graft in the sector such as the imposition of illegal fees, school construction projects markups, bribes to teachers and school principals.

Febri also urged the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and students’ parents to play more active roles in fighting increasing corruption in the education sector, in line with the recent increases to education spending.

Education is a large and important sector that the general public should monitor, he said, adding that the education sector had become a fertile ground for corruption since it was allocated a larger budget by the state government.

“Power abuses have been rampant not only at the National Education Ministry but also in provincial and regency/municipal administrations under regional autonomy,” Febri said.

Numerous power abuses and graft cases had remained unexposed because law enforcers and relevant stake holders had not paid enough attention to the sector, Febri said.

Separately Lody Paat, the coordinator of the Education Coalition, said the KPK could help reduce corruption by putting corruptors behind bars.

However, only transparent processes in designing budgets and keeping accounts open to inspections by students’ parents could really prevent power abuses and red tape in the sector, Lody said.

“I believe parents, teachers, principals, and other stakeholders must make budget plans together for schools and supervise implementation. They should be able to take part in educational budget planning from national to local levels,” he said.

The coalition had carried out several pilot projects in Garut and Tangerang to teach parents how to make and scrutinize schools’ budgets and accounts, Lody said.

Since 2003, the National Education Ministry has proclaimed school-based management that theoretically allows anyone to acquire schools’ budget reports, Febri said. “But, if you try to get these reports, many schools will not hand over this information,” he said.

Under school-based management, school committees, which include students’ parents and school staff, should plan for and scrutinize schools’ budget spending.

However, in most cases committees had not managed their education budgets effectively since most parents did not know how to scrutinize schools’ budget reports, said Jumono from the Students’ Parents Alliance for Education. (mrs)

Corruption Threatens Education Development

LAYANAN PENDIDIKAN
Korupsi Mengancam Pembangunan Pendidikan
Selasa, 5 Mei 2009 | 04:56 WIB


Jakarta, Kompas - Korupsi di dunia pendidikan mengancam pembangunan pendidikan. Kenaikan anggaran pendidikan yang diperjuangkan dengan susah payah perlu disertai pengawasan publik.

Kondisi tersebut antara lain tercermin dalam kajian yang dilakukan Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) dan Pusat Telaah dan Informasi Regional (Pattiro) dan disampaikan dalam jumpa pers, Senin (4/5). Chitra Septyandrica, peneliti dan Program Manager Pattiro, mengatakan, masih terjadi penyimpangan anggaran pendidikan. Pattiro bersama bersama Brooking Institution dari Amerika meneliti 137 proyek sebagai percontohan di Kabupaten Gresik, Jawa Timur, dan Kabupaten Serang, Banten, pada tahun 2008. Penelitian terhadap 30 sekolah negeri dan 10 sekolah swasta jenjang SD dan SMP.

Hasil penelitian menunjukkan terdapat tujuh pola penyimpangan yang terjadi, yakni pengucuran dana tidak sesuai kebutuhan sekolah, keterlambatan pencairan, penyimpangan cara penyaluran, potongan tidak wajar, belanja tidak sesuai peruntukan, pengurangan hasil, serta kebocoran dalam alokasi, penggunaan dan audit dana.

Skema penyaluran anggaran ke sekolah juga rumit dan setiap skema mempunyai aturannya masing-masing. Selain itu, transparansi anggaran sangat rendah.

Gambaran karut marutnya pengelolaan anggaran pendidikan disampaikan pula oleh Febri Hendri, peneliti dari ICW. Lembaga tersebut mengambil contoh kasus-kasus korupsi anggaran pendidikan di delapan provinsi, yakni Banten, Jawa Barat, DKI Jakarta, Sumatera Barat, Jawa Tengah, Nusa Tenggara Barat, Nusa Tenggara Timur, serta Sulawesi Tengah sepanjang tahun 2007 dan 2008.

Terdapat 36 kasus di daerah-daerah tersebut yang sampai di tingkat kejaksaan dan melibatkan 63 orang tersangka. Tersangka terbanyak yakni sebanyak 14 orang ialah pejabat di dinas pendidikan. Pelaku selebihnya antara lain staf pemerintah daerah, pimpinan proyek, dan kepala sekolah.

Febri mengatakan, modus yang paling banyak ialah penggelembungan, penggelapan, dan manipulasi anggaran. Namun, ada pula modus penyuapan dan pungutan liar, terutama berkaitan dengan kewenangan pencairan anggaran. Modus paling banyak menimbulkan kerugian negara ialah manipulasi anggaran dengan kerugian sekitar Rp 110,7 miliar. (INE)