BOS - Frequently asked questions for policymakers

58623 December 2010 Frequently Asked Questions FAQs For Policymakers Bantuan Operasional Sekolah School Operational Grant Ratna Kesuma Ratna Kesuma 1. What has the BOS program achieved? The BOS program is a key pillar of the Government's Basic Third, BOS has been vital in spearheading the Education policy. It is aimed at providing much needed funding implementation of school-based management practices in to support school operations to reduce the burden of fees Indonesia. Although parents made contributions to schools charged to parents, and thus increase access to basic education, before BOS, parents and the school administration were less especially for the poor. A secondary objective is to use BOS involved in planning fund use. Now, with BOS funds at their funds to improve the quality of education by adopting school disposal, both school administration and school committee based management practices. heads are collectively determining how these funds can best be used to achieve locally identified targets for their particular The BOS program has been successful in a number of ways since school, in terms of meeting specific learning needs of students its inception in 2005. First, BOS has made a vital contribution as well as providing needed inputs. to improving access to basic education for children from the poorest households. In 2009, net enrollment rates (NERs) Fourth, by mandating community oversight of fund usage at the for the poor at the primary school level had increased to school level, BOS has led to clearer accountability and 93.81%. At the junior secondary level, BOS helped raise the NER reduced the likelihood for the misuse of funds. These of the poorest children from 52% in 2006, to 59% in 2009, findings are also reflected in the unqualified Financial while also increasing their completion rates from 50% to 55% Development Comptroller (BPKP) audit report (2008, 2009) as over this period (SUSENAS surveys). well as by an analysis of cases received by MoNE's complaint handling system (discussed in detail below). Second, BOS is a particularly important, stable and large source of funding for schools in impoverished areas Fifth, schools also have better financial management records where similar local government financing or BOS-Daerah of BOS than other programs. A majority of schools are is low or ad hoc and parental contributions are scarce. getting their full allocation of BOS funds; others are also In the absence of BOS funds, enrollment and schooling receiving BOS funds but with discrepancies of greater than +/- quality would likely have been lower such as in Maluku 5% (partly due to changing enrollment numbers). where BOS funds provide on average over 50% of the total school budget for resources critical for a good quality education, such as textbooks and other learning materials. 2. How are schools using BOS? An independent survey of the use of BOS funds in 2008 shows spend more on temporary teachers than public schools. Around that the majority of BOS funds are spent on teacher honoraria, 21 and 36 percent of BOS funds are spent on temporary teacher either directly or indirectly, regardless of the student teacher honoraria at the primary level (public and private), while at the ratio. The usage is similar for public and private schools at the junior secondary level, the percentage of BOS funds spent on primary and junior secondary levels, although private schools temporary teacher honoraria in public and private schools is Figure 1: BOS Fund Usage JSS 27.3 34.4 Temporary Teacher Honoraria PS 21.0 35.9 JSS 17.4 12.4 Examination/Learning Activities PS 18.1 17.2 JSS 6.9 7.1 Daily Supplies PS 12.4 6.9 JSS 13.4 15.1 ExtraCurricular Activities PS 12.1 9.9 JSS 4.0 10.8 School Maintenance PS 7.7 6.2 JSS 8.9 3.9 New Reference Books PS 5.5 4.1 JSS 4.6 1.5 Teacher Training PS 6.0 4.1 JSS 2.9 7.6 Subscriptions and Services PS 5.2 4.7 JSS 5.8 2.2 Others PS 3.2 5.1 JSS 4.4 3.5 Ineligible Expenditures PS 2.9 2.1 JSS 1.4 0.6 New Students Registration PS 1.7 0.4 JSS 0.8 0.7 BOS Management PS 1.5 0.9 JSS 2.3 0.1 Transportation Subsidy for Poor Students PS 1.4 2.3 JSS New Text Books PS JSS Learning Aids & School Furniture PS JSS Computers PS 2008 Source: RIM Monitoring Report (FY 2008) Public JSS Junior Secondary School Private PS Primary School 27.3% and 34.4%. Other key uses of BOS include spending on In view of these findings, the government intends to alert schools activities related to student exam preparation, learning activities to reduce new teacher hires unless these are in accordance with and extracurricular activities, which also contribute to payments the student teacher ratios as mandated by education standards. to teachers. (See Figure 1). The government will also review the BOS manual to improve its clarity and responsiveness to school needs. 3. Who audits the BOS program and what are the main findings? The BOS program managed by the Ministry of National Since most of these findings relate to weak understanding of the Education (MoNE) is audited on an annual basis by BPKP, and eligible use of BOS funds, the government is undertaking regular the audit report is finalized in June of the following fiscal year. training programs of BOS management teams at the district and The State Auditor (BPK) was also requested by the National school levels to clarify the use of funds as well as address other Parliament to audit the BOS program in 2008. implementation questions. The training was supported by the US$20 million Dutch Education Support Program (DESP) grant1 BPKP's audit report for 2008, which was issued in June 2009 of the Dutch government in 2009, and will be supported by a provided an unqualified opinion on the BOS program and A$20 million AusAID grant in 2011. The World Bank is providing reported some uses of BOS funds that were not fully in technical support for the design of the training within the accordance with the BOS Guidelines/Manual. These were context of the BOS Knowledge Improvement through equivalent to US$996,000, which amounts to less than 0.1% of Transparency and Accountability (BOS-KITA) program. BOS will the total amount of BOS funds of US$1.2 billion in FY 2008. be decentralized to local governments in FY 2011, and annual BPKP audits of the program will continue. 4. What sorts of complaints are received on BOS and how have these been resolved? In addition to training, MoNE has established a complaint through toll free phone numbers listed in the BOS manual (which handling system for the BOS program. Findings of the complaint every school and its school committee receives), as well as on handling system indicate that of the 123 cases received between posters. BOS posters also list the amount of unit cost per student Jan