The Implementation Of The Constitutional Court's Decision Is More Urgent Than People's Schools

The decision of the Constitutional Court (MK) Number 3/PUU-XXII/2024 is considered to provide new breakthroughs regarding access to basic education for all Indonesian citizens. How not, through this decision, the Constitutional Court ordered the government to guarantee basic education from elementary to junior high school without costs both in public and private schools.

The decision 3/2024 was issued after the Constitutional Court granted the judicial review lawsuit Article 34 paragraph (2) of Law Number 20 of 2003 concerning the National Education System (Sidiknas) submitted by the Indonesian Education Monitoring Network or JPPI.

Constitutional Justice Enny Nurbayanti said, the phrase mandatory to study at the basic level of education without collecting fees' as stipulated in Article 34 paragraph (2) of the National Education System Law gives rise to multiple interpretations and discriminatory treatment. These multiple interpretations and discriminatory measures limit citizens to develop themselves through fulfilling basic needs, benefiting from technological, artistic, and cultural sciences to improve quality of life.

He explained that Article 28C paragraph (1) of the 1945 Constitution has guaranteed that all citizens have the right to education to improve quality and welfare of life. However, Article 28C paragraph (1) of the 1945 Constitution is considered contrary and does not have conditionally binding legal force if it is not interpreted as Government and Regional Government guarantees that the implementation of it must study at least at the level of basic education'.

"Without charge, both for basic education units organized by the government and organized by the community," said Enny when reading the considerations of the Decision 3/2024, Tuesday, May 27.

Unfortunately, the Constitutional Court's decision is like a passing wind until now-for the Government of President Prabowo Subianto, who has chosen to promote the People's School program starting July 2025. This program targets families not able to get education, nutrition, and character development in an integrated manner.

According to the president, the People's School program is not only the development of educational infrastructure, but also a strategy to raise the standard of living of underprivileged people. Later, children classified as poor and extreme poor families, based on the National Sole Social Economy Data (DTSEN), especially in decile 1 and decile 2 (the poorest category) will be students.

The decile 1 category is a group with the lowest welfare rate or 10 percent of the lowest in the national household population, with an income of less than IDR 800 thousand per month. Desil 2 covers an income of between IDR 800 thousand-IDR 1.2 million.

Pembangunan Sekolah Rakyat (SR) Di Maluku Utara/DOK PHOTO Kementerian PU

"It's okay"

The concept of the People's School certainly reminds the Inpres Elementary School program initiated by President Suharto in the early 1970s. SD Inpres is here to expand access to basic education, especially for underprivileged families and remote areas. Children aged 712 years are given the opportunity to receive education at the Inpres Elementary School, complete with the support of facilities such as teaching staff, textbooks, and other learning facilities.

Quoted from the Indonesia.go.id page, the SD Inpres program began to be rolled out after the issuance of Presidential Instruction (Inpres) Number 1 of 1973 concerning SD Development within the framework of Pelita II. During 1973 to 1995, the government succeeded in building around 150 thousand units of SD Inpres and placing more than 1 million teachers. The total budget reached Rp6.5 trillion until the end of Phase I (PJPT I) Long-Term Development. For the success of the program, on June 19, 1993 President Soeharto received The Avicenna award from UNESCO. The name of this award was taken from the 10th-century Muslim scientist Ibnu Sina.

Although at first glance there are similarities, the People's School and SD Inpres programs have fundamental differences. In terms of objectives, People's Schools to eradicate extreme poverty and break the chain of poverty between generations by targeting children from decil 1 and 2 families. Meanwhile, SD Inpres is actually targeting a wider class because it aims to reduce access to basic education throughout Indonesia and reduce illiteracy. This means that the SD Inpres New Order era program uses a regular elementary school model that is built for the expansion and equal distribution of educational opportunities is more able to access education for millions of children.

The Implementation Of The Constitutional Court's Decision Is More Effective In Reducing The Number Of School Dropouts

President Prabowo's policy of prioritizing the People's School program over the implementation of the Constitutional Court Decision No. 3/2024 was highlighted by the Coordinator of the Ubaid Matraji Indonesian Education Monitoring Network (JPPI). According to him, the government should immediately take concrete steps in carrying out free school programs as mandated by the Constitutional Court's decision. This is because the decision is a direct instruction to the state to ensure the fulfillment of basic rights of education for children. Meanwhile, the People's School program will only make schools as exclusive institutions and are inhabited by children based on caste or certain social-economic classes.

He added that the People's School program actually reminded of education policies in the colonial era, where at that time there were special schools for children of colonial descent, native special schools, schools for the ningrat, and schools for the people. That way, the People's School will actually strengthen the issue of class inequality and worsen access to education that is just for all Indonesian children.

"We are already independent, why the caste system and the segregation of the colonial era, we practice and re-plant in schools. We already have Article 31 of the 1945 Constitution which equalizes the rights of all Indonesian children, but why do orders have the idea to provide discriminatory services based on caste and achievements," said Ubaid.

A number of activists from the Indonesian Education Monitoring Network walked while unfurling banners and posters in the HI Roundabout area, Jakarta, Sunday (7/7/2024). (ANTARA/Asprilla Dwi Adha/tom/am)

"It's okay"

He said the implementation of the Constitutional Court's decision would encourage education services to be more inclusive, unlike People's Schools which tend to be discriminatory because they separate students based on social and economic backgrounds. Instead of implementing instant policies, the government should make strategic and well-structured policies because the people want all schools with superior quality or guaranteed quality properly. So any school is the best school," he added.

Ubaid emphasized that the Constitutional Court's decision had actually given fresh air to private schools that were currently not getting attention from the government. So far, private schools only rely on funds from students or parents of students and School Operational Assistance Funds (BOS). Therefore, with the Constitutional Court Decision, it is time for the state to be present to ensure the distribution of budgeting also reaches private schools.

Instead of establishing a new school, the government's efforts to revitalize existing schools are much more important. The education system must be designed to be open to all. In addition, the government can also improve the quality of teachers or make curricula according to this era," he said.

Lecturer of the Public Policy Management Study Program of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Gadjah Mada University (FISIP UGM), Dr. Subarsono also assessed that the People's School program was not too urgent to implement. He revealed that there are still many conventional schools that still need to be handled by the government, ranging from the problem of damaged school building conditions to the low salary of honorary teachers. Therefore, he is advised by the government to improve the system to the quality of education compared to prioritizing public school programs.

"It's not that it's not efficient, but I don't believe in the accuracy to do it right now. Why don't we fix the existing system. For schools, they get BOS Funds in order to improve the quality of education and if they want to improve the quality of education, how to increase BOS funds, improve curriculum, and improve teacher competence," he explained.

The Minister of Elementary and Secondary Education, Abdul Mu'ti, admitted that the Constitutional Court's decision was final and binding. Therefore, the agency will follow and implement the decision. But in that decision, the Constitutional Court did not mention the word free' but financed by the state in accordance with the government's financial capacity.

In addition, the Constitutional Court's decision also states that private schools are still allowed to collect fees from the public. The Ministry of Education and Culture has also held meetings with other ministries to discuss further the decision. Mu'ti argued that in an implementation, the government had actually implemented a decision, namely by providing tuition assistance such as school operational assistance funds (BOS) that apply to all students in public or private schools.

Then, the Indonesia smart program (PIP) funds for students with the category of underprivileged at the elementary to middle school level or smart Indonesian cards (KIP) for those who are studying higher education, and government facilities and infrastructure assistance. We have to follow the decision of the Court, but the implementation must also follow the contents of the verdict," he said.

Deputy Minister of Basic and Secondary Education, Fajar Riza Ul Haq added, the government is still conducting studies related to the Constitutional Court's decision which mandates free education for nine years in public and private schools. This is because the implementation of education is not entirely the responsibility of the central government, but also involves the role of local governments. "Education issues are not the absolute authority of the central government, but are also the responsibility of local governments because they are concurrent. Moreover, basic education such as elementary and junior high schools," he said.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of KPAI, Aris Adi Leksono, revealed that the Constitutional Court's decision Number 3/2024 needs to be included as an important substance in the revision of the National Education System Law (UU Sisdiknas), including articles governing the distribution of education financing by the central and regional governments.

He revealed that the allocation of education funds needs to be directed at activities that really improve the quality of learning and the quality of graduates. This is because KPAI still finds several local governments that have not fully complied with the provisions of the legislation regarding the allocation of 20 percent of the APBD for education.

KPAI considers that one of the implications of the Constitutional Court's decision is the need for the government to recalculate the cost of education costs per child in order to include learning needs, facilities and infrastructure, as well as other supporting activities. Aris added, if the cost unit is met, then the practice of illegal levies in educational units can be eliminated.

BPS data in 2023, recorded 29.21 percent of children out of a total of 30.2 million children have dropped out of school. We are optimistic that with the implementation of this Constitutional Court decision, the number of dropouts can be reduced, opening up greater opportunities to realize the welfare of Indonesian children," he said.