Commission X Of The House Of Representatives Forms A Panja To Respond To An Unreasonable Increase In UKT

PIXABAY ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - Commission X of the DPR agreed to form a special Working Committee (Panja) in response to the increase in Single Lecture Money (UKT) which was considered unreasonable. The reason is, some campuses have experienced an increase in UKT by up to 500 percent.

"In our opinion, this is not natural, so we see that we need to sit down together," said Deputy Chairman of Commission X DPR, Dede Yusuf, Thursday, May 16.

Dede said that Commission X of the DPR would summon the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (Kemendikbudristek) as a follow-up to the formation of the Panja.

"Tomorrow the plan will call the Ministry of Education and Culture and the DPR will also immediately make a committee for education costs," said Dede.

Dede admitted that he did not know the main cause of the increase in UKT, so it became a polemic. However, he said, his party was pushing for the revision of Permendikbud Number 2 of 2024.

"Ask the government to revise Permendikbud 2/2024 as soon as possible," said the West Java electoral district Democrat legislator

Previously, the Secretary of the Directorate General of Higher Education, Research, and Technology of the Ministry of Education and Culture, Tjitjik Sri Tjahjandarie, said that higher education is the tertiary education or choices that are not required to study for 12 years. Compulsory education in Indonesia is currently only 12 years, namely from elementary, junior high to high school.

Tjitjik said this was in response to a wave of criticism related to the increasingly expensive single tuition fee (UKT) in universities.

Tjitjik said that higher education in Indonesia cannot be free like in other countries. This is because the operational assistance of state universities (BOPTN) has not been able to cover all operational needs.

Therefore, according to him, tuition fees must be met by students so that the implementation of education meets quality standards.

"From the other side, we can see that this tertiary education is an education. So it is not mandatory to study. This means that not all SLTA graduates, vocational schools are required to enter higher education. This is an option," said Tjitjik at the Ministry of Education and Culture, Wednesday, May 16.

"Who wants to develop themselves to enter university, yes, it is an option, not a mandatory one," he added.