This is the nightmare of any parent: a phone call informing them that their child was in a serious accident and requires surgical intervention 'emergency. Fortunately, it is usually just a scam; one that was toured for many years in Jakarta.
The authors of the hoax calls sometimes work with inside information, like a list of contacts for parents of international school, including the names of their children. The scammer claims that a large sum of money to be transferred urgently before a hospital will provide a rescue operation. The hope is that panicked parents will transfer quickly without checking the information.
Parents should treat these calls with extreme skepticism, and so worried, call the school or to the hospital to check. Scammers can give a contact number for a "doctor", which is actually an accomplice.
Financial Services Authority of Indonesia (OJK) this year is publishing a series of books for students from elementary to high school to teach them the risks associated with fraudulent investment products. The bland-looking book for high school students is entitled to know the OJK and the financial services industry. Material volume of 51 pages will be incorporated in reviews of the national economy.
Unfortunately, these new books do not cover some of the most common scams in Indonesia. There are numerous reports of teachers and even university professors are scammed. One of the newest methods is an SMS invitation to attend a conference organized by the Ministry of Education or a prestigious university. These invitations include charges of approximately Rp.10 million promised. Targets are told to go to their nearest dealer to check the money was transferred. Once there, the victim receives a series of telephoned instructions, which involve a transfer of funds to the account of the scammer.
One victim was 61 years, Professor Erlyn Indarti the capital of Central Java Semarang. He received a text message from someone claiming to be Hertanto professor, vice-rector of Diponegoro University, offering him money to attend a conference. The message includes a phone number for "Purwanto Professor of the General Directorate of Higher Education", which he was advised to contact in order to get the funds. When calling the number at an ATM, follow Erlyn directions that led to the sending of Rp.93 million to the scammer.
school administrators are also covered, receive text messages that offer vast amounts of state finance ministry allegedly if the education they will first make a facilitation payment.
Scams and dishonesty are often from the school. the fraud and cheating are common, teachers using forged qualifications replies examination leakage. the nationwide success rate for high school exams was surprisingly high in recent years, reaching 99.52% in 2014.
despite this phenomenal success rate, Indonesia does not shine in international education rankings. The Programme for International Student Assessment, which evaluates the skills of 15 years in various subjects, most recently ranked penultimate Indonesia on 65 countries in math and science, and the last fifth for reading.
Too often, Indonesian students are provided with the exam answers in advance or allowed to display the answer key leakage via their mobile phone. Many teachers are more concerned with high success rates of production, rather than offering a quality education and to accurately measure student proficiency. High rates of graduation attract new listings, which means more money.
In 2013, a professor at Widuri vocational school in South Jakarta led high school students in a prayer session for good results in their final exams. He then offered to sell the answers to Rp.30,000 per student. He said he needed the money to renovate a mosque near his house. After exposure, the teacher apologized, explaining that he only wanted to help students pass.
Supporters of the accused in the case JIS
In 2011, a professor at Gadel 2 State Elementary School in East Java capital Surabaya forced the most intelligent student of the class to share their answers with other students for national examinations. When the mother of the child complained of mass cheating, she was attacked to harm the school's reputation, forced to apologize, and she and her family were evicted from their home. The prevailing local opinion was that cheating and corruption are normal and should not be opposed.
When students are instilled with values that cheating is better than honesty, it is not surprising that Indonesia is facing such a difficult battle in the fight against the culture of corruption.
The Ministry of Education this year began testing computerized national examinations in selected schools, the replacement of paper-based exams. Education Minister Anies Baswedan wants the new system to be implemented nationwide next year, so that schools can organize examinations at the same time reducing the risk of cheating. The problem is that many schools lack the necessary equipment for students to pass exams by computer - even if 20 percent of the state budget is allocated to education. This funding does not appear to reach the crumbling schools so often shown on TV news reports.
Indonesia Corruption Watch, there were 296 known cases of corruption involving the education budget during 2003 and 2013, causing losses to the State of Rp.619 billion. That equates to about $ 4.7 million per year -. And only cases that have been treated by law enforcement
The government recently decided that national examinations should not be the sole determinant of graduating from high school. Instead, individual schools will also examine the presence and attitude of students, in addition to the results of the review. This power could result in crooked schools with graduation for a price.
Schoolbooks offer another avenue for corruption. The Ministry of Education tried to replace physical textbooks in schools with tablets and ebooks. The move upset the principals and teachers who benefit by receiving commissions of up to 50% of distributors Required textbooks. There are several years the Department of Education began publishing ebooks on its website for free download. But many schools still insist that students buy physical books as ebooks are not profitable. This means that children are still dragging heavy bags to school. Health experts warn that young children may suffer from future back problems if carrying bags that are more than 15% of their body weight.
Finally, the case of alleged rape blurring Jakarta International School (JIS) -which has recently changed its name to the school's intercultural Jakarta regarded by some as a witch hunt that was originally intended to extort school for money. JIS charge annual tuition fees of more than $ 20,000 and has about 2,500 students, indicating an annual turnover of more than $ 50 million.
Despite a lack of evidence, and despite the alleged victims changing their stories, two JIS teachers are currently on trial in Jakarta District Court notoriously corrupt South on rape charges several times three boys in kindergarten. The mother of one of the boys continued the school for $ 125 million.
One of the most bizarre claims in the case is the claim of the prosecution that the Canadian Neil Bantleman teacher "evoked a magic stone" in the air to make the boys forget what happened . Five school janitors were imprisoned in December to eight years after being convicted of abusing one of the boys. A sixth janitor accused died in custody.
Education is desperately needed to save scams students, superstitions and the notion that greed is better than honesty.