#LearnFromHome Urged During the Corona Pandemic, BOS Fund Usage Relaxed

Kapanlagi.com - It has been more than a month, #LearnFromHome has been implemented for students throughout Indonesia.As advised by the Minister of Education and Culture (Mendikbud) Nadiem Anwar Makarim through Circular Letter (SE) Number 4 of 2020 regarding the Implementation of Education Policies during the Emergency Period of the Spread of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), students are encouraged to continue learning activities online from home.

Considering that most of the students' learning time is no longer done at school, questions arise about the Bantuan Operasional Sekolah (BOS) fund, is it still available?

Well, in response to public concerns about the misuse of BOS funds, Acting Director General of Early Childhood Education, Basic Education and Secondary Education (PAUD Dikdasmen) Hamid Muhammad believes that school principals already understand the mechanisms and all the consequences.

In addition, the BOS reporting system is also continuously developed, so as to minimize BOS fund deviations.Hamid himself hopes that in the midst of the current emergency situation, all school elements should work together to optimize the proper use of BOS funds.

"Our coordination is very tight, starting from the school principal, the department, and the center (Ministry of Education and Culture).We have been doing this for a long time, so if there are changes like now, we have to trust the school principal," said Hamid.

This was also confirmed by the Principal of SMAN 8 Bandung, Suryana, as one of the parties responsible for managing and being accountable for BOS funds in his school.According to him, his school has mapped out priority needs, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.

"Currently, the TW 1 BOS funds have been used for hand sanitizers and disinfectants.The purchases are in accordance with the school's needs only. Not excessive," said Suryana.

He also added that if there is a need to make changes to the School Activity and Budget Plan (RKAS), because BOS funds can be used for teacher and student internet quotas.

"The school will be accountable for the use of the quota," added Suryana.

The use of BOS funds itself refers to 12 components as stated in the Minister of Education and Culture Regulation (Permendikbud) Number 8 of 2020 concerning Technical Guidelines for Regular BOS.

These twelve components include 1) New Student Admission (PPDB), (2) library development, (3) learning activities and extracurricular activities, (4) assessment/evaluation of learning activities, (5) school administrative activities, (6) teacher and educational staff professional development, (7) subscription to power and services, (8) maintenance of school facilities and infrastructure, (9) provision of multimedia learning tools, (10) organizing special job fairs, industrial work practices or field work practices domestically, monitoring employment, teacher apprenticeships, and professional certification institutions of the first party, (11) organizing competency test activities, certification of competency skills, and international standard English language proficiency tests and other foreign languages for SMK or SMALB final year classes, and (12) honor payments.

However, the new changes issued by the Minister of Education and Culture on April 9, 2020, namely Minister of Education and Culture Regulation Number 19 of 2020 concerning Amendments to Minister of Education and Culture Regulation (Permendikbud) Number 8 of 2020 concerning Technical Guidelines for Regular BOS actually provide flexibility for school principals to allocate BOS funds according to priority needs.

Moreover, the regulation also allows schools to use BOS funds to pay honorary teachers more than 50 percent during the Covid-19 pandemic, with the condition that honorary teachers must be registered in dapodik as a basis for conducting audits. So now you know, right, that this BOS fund is still running even though teaching and learning activities are now being shifted #StayAtHome?

(kly/tmi)