Escorting 2021 New Student Admissions, West Sumatra Ombudsman Opens Complaints Command

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JAKARTA - The Ombudsman representing West Sumatra officially opened the New Student Admissions Complaints Post (PPDB) in order to ensure the process of admitting new students is transparent and accountable.

"Learning from the experience in 2020, there were 27 community reports and 70 consultations related to PPDB ranging from allegations of maladministration in the form of procedural irregularities, not providing services, incompetence to abuse of authority, therefore this year we re-opened a complaint post," said the Head of the Ombudsman representative of West Sumatra Yefri Heriani in Padang, reported by Antara, Thursday, June 10.

At the virtual launch, there was also a Talkshow about PPDB with speakers from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology, the West Sumatra Regional Office of Religion, and Public Policy Experts from Padang State University.

Yefri assessed that in addition to overseeing the new student admissions process, his party also encourages organizers to provide complaint channels and encourage a whistle blowing system or report violations in all institutions that implement PPDB.

In line with that, Padang State University Public Policy Expert Zikri Alhadi said PPDB aims to equalize the quality of education in terms of systems, infrastructure, human resources and others.

"Therefore, the community has the right to receive decent and quality education, but in fact there are several challenges to achieving these goals, such as compliance with service standards, readiness of information systems, zoning determination mechanisms, and moral hazard," he said.

Therefore, he hopes that the complaint management mechanism must be measured and socialized to the public because often the complaint service cannot be accessed while the community needs a quick response to the complaint'.

Furthermore, Zikri conveyed that on the one hand the zoning was not effective because there were students' residences that were not included in the zoning area.

Meanwhile, the Representative of the Ministry of Education and Culture, Research and Technology Sutoyo, conveyed the PPDB policy referring to Permendikbud Number 1 of 2021.

"The government ensures that all children of the nation must enjoy education so that the implementation of PPDB must be transparent, accountable and non-discriminatory," he said.

He conveyed that the Ministry had prepared an information channel on PPDB services, in the form of an integrated service unit or a complaint post for the Inspectorate General of the Ministry of Education and Culture that could be accessed by the entire community.

RI Ombudsman member Yeka Hendra Fatika said that the challenge of PPDB is the distribution of schools that is not proportional to population density, so the Ombudsman encourages the equitable access of prospective students to schools.

"The complaint management planning process is an important thing that needs to be prepared long before the PPDB implementation," he said.

Regarding the implementation of PPDB 2021, he assessed that synergies were needed from all stakeholders from the Ministry to the regional level so that students really got the right to a fair and equitable education.

The Ombudsman recommends that PPDB organizers be more optimal in providing services, opening complaints and consulting services at the Education Office or school level by placing competent officers in managing complaints.