Eri Cahyadi: Free MBR Elementary/Junior High School Students For The Affirmation Path

SURABAYA - Mayor of Surabaya, Eri Cahyadi, frees school fees for MBR (Low-Income Communities) Elementary/Junior High School students through affirmation pathways or community partners. Because all costs have been borne by the Surabaya City Government.

This is regulated in Surabaya Mayor Regulation No. 49 of 2020, that grantees for regional education fees must waive education fees for MBR. Therefore, Eri asked parents, whether they entered through the affirmative MBR route or community partners, to report when they experience fees being charged at school.

"Be it the cost of building fees, re-registration, activity fees, tuition fees or free donations. Residents of Surabaya, if anyone experiences this, please convey it immediately, either through the application (WargaKu), the Education Office (Dispendik) or MKKS (School Principal Work Meeting) ," said Eri, in Surabaya, Monday, August 16.

Eri stated that the Surabaya City Government had made an agreement with private educational institutions for elementary and junior high schools. In essence, private educational institutions are prohibited from charging any fees, to affirmative MBR students or community partners.

"Private schools have an agreement with the Surabaya City Government that MBR students who are there will no longer be charged, because everything has been borne by the Surabaya City Government," he said.

However, Eri claimed to have received information from a fee levy by a private junior high school. In fact, he received the fee collection report directly from one of the parents of MBR students. "Yesterday there was a direct report to me from a resident who was on the MBR list, but his son was asked to pay for the building and others. So today I ordered the Dispendik to follow up," he said.

Eri hopes that such incidents will not be repeated in the future. He wants this incident to be a lesson for other schools to evaluate in the future.

"This incident should not be repeated in other schools, whether it's donations or money for any building, we agree that there are none, either from residents or MBR students," he said.

Meanwhile in a separate place, the Acting (Plt) Head of Middle School Division (Sekmen) of the Surabaya City Dispendik, Tri Aji Nugroho, explained that the information that there was a fee levy to MBR students was only a miscommunication between the students' parents and the school.

This is because at the beginning of registration, the parents did not report MBR data to the school.

"Because at the beginning the parents did not submit their MBR data to the school. Thus, the school considered their parents to be regular. After we cleared it, the school still maintains the principle that MBR students are free," said Tri.

Therefore, his party advised parents of students to participate in submitting MBR data to the school at the beginning of registration. This is because sometimes the school does not necessarily know that the condition of the parents is in the MBR or regular category.

"Because sometimes schools don't know the condition if the parents are MBR. But God willing, the school will understand, if it's MBR students it will be free, don't charge tuition fees or building fees," he said.

As an anticipatory measure, his party has opened a complaint room to the public, especially for parents of MBR students. If you experience a charge from the school, you can report it through several available communication channels.

"If you experience it, please report it directly to us at the Education Office. It can also be through social media, or WhatsApp," he said.