The Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education Prepares Steps to Prevent Corruption of Revitalization Funds 

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education (Kemendikdasmen) has prepared a number of steps to ensure accountability, as well as prevent budget irregularities in the Education Unit Revitalization Program.

Director General (Dirjen) of Secondary Education and Special Education (Dikmen Diksus) of the Ministry of Education, Tatang Muttaqin, said that his party had a system to ensure that the budget allocated to each educational unit was used appropriately and transparently.

"We have a system for physical checks, so that it is in accordance with the design of the building, detailed engineering, and there is also the finances. If we check on the ground, it will be easy to see that this is starting to play-play," said Tatang in a discussion titled "Relaxed Impact of Revitalization of Education Units and Strengthening Literacy through Comfortable Library Facilities" in Jakarta on Tuesday, as reported by Antara.

More specifically, the budget that is transferred to the school account and received directly by the principal and treasurer cannot be fully disbursed at one time.

The Ministry of Education, he said, uses a 70:30 disbursement scheme, namely the first disbursement that can be made by the school is only a maximum of 70 percent of the total budget received.

The remaining budget of 30 percent, he continued, can be disbursed if the progress of revitalization has reached 50 percent.

When there is an overall transfer of funds from the original account or an overall cash withdrawal, he emphasized that the system will provide a warning.

"But for example, if it has been taken away, even transferred to another account, it has begun to be seen, we have started to give warnings," said Tatang.

This system, said Tatang, will carry out random monitoring, but violations that are found will certainly be taken action on.

In addition to the system, he emphasized that the Inspector General (Irjen) of the Ministry of Education and Culture also carried out monitoring.

Therefore, for schools that have been proven to have committed violations or embezzlement of funds, his party will force the schools concerned to return the funds.

"This is forced if you are proven to have violated it, it must be returned. So this is some of what we are doing, so it is not all," said Tatang.