The Announcement Of Vacant Seats For Public Schools At The Change Of Semester Is Considered To Be Detrimental To Private Schools

JAKARTA - Chairman of the DKI Jakarta Private College Deliberative Body (BMPS) Imam Parikesit emphasized that private schools reject the announcement of vacant seats for public schools at the turn of the semester for the 2020-2021 school year. Because he is worried, with this announcement, many students will move from private to public schools.

"The private sector rejects the vacant seats announced. As soon as there are empty seats, what happens is that the private school is released (by students)," Iman told reporters, Tuesday, July 14.

Imam said, currently there are a number of prospective students enrolled in private schools because they did not qualify for the new student admissions (PPDB) for state schools.

With the announcement of vacant seats for public schools in the middle of the semester, he worries that it will hurt private schools by moving students.

Furthermore, he asked the DKI Education Office to understand that not all private schools have the financial capacity to improve the quality of education. According to BPMS data, there are 10 percent high quality schools, 30 percent middle quality, and at most 60 percent low quality.

Because many private schools are of low quality, the opening of opportunities for student transfer to public schools has resulted in a decline in the ability of the private sector to finance school operations.

"So, there will be a movement of students and the private sector screaming because we have calculated the budget (from the number of students at the beginning of the school year)," said Imam.

"Usually there is a deficit (in private schools). This is because there are private schools whose classes are thin because usually there are children who only ride 'boarding' in private schools for 6 months," he continued.

Previously it was reported that after the PPDB DKI process was over, there were still 7,758 empty seats available in public schools, ranging from SD, SMP, SMA and SMK.

Head of the DKI Jakarta Education Agency, Nahdiana, explained that there were 6,666 empty seats left in elementary schools, out of a capacity of 99,932 people, while the remaining 622 empty seats in SMP had a capacity of 79,075 people.

Then, there are 225 remaining empty seats in SMA from a capacity of 31,964 people, and 245 remaining empty seats in SMK from a capacity of 31,964 people. Even so, empty seats were not scattered in all schools.

"The remaining seats in SD are 6.71 percent of the capacity provided, then SMP is 0.79 percent, SMA is 0.7 percent, and SMK is 1.72 percent," said Nahdiana.

Nahdiana said, most of the empty seats were at the SD level. This is because, he said, there are several elementary schools whose locations are in office environments. "So, there are not many children who enter SD in that area," he said.

The empty seats from 5 administrative cities and the Thousand Islands in DKI Jakarta in the 2020-2021 academic year will later be reopened for students who transfer schools at the change of the new semester.

"Later we will publish (announcements of schools leaving empty seats) in the following semester," said Nahdiana.