Govt to send poor kids to school<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The government is to open a special registration
\nprocedure so more children of poor families can go to school at
\nthis time of crisis, Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare
\nand Poverty Alleviation Haryono Suyono said here on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The registration will start late April after the government
\ncompletes its inventory of children requiring assistance to
\nremain in school, Haryono said after a meeting with Yoshi Teru
\nUramoto, Planning and Advocacy officer of the United Nations
\nChildren's Fund (Unicef), at his office.<\/p>\n
School registration usually opens in June and July.<\/p>\n
\"The special registration program will be launched on May 2 by
\nPresident B.J. Habibie, to coincide with National Education Day
\ncelebrations,\" Haryono said.<\/p>\n
The inventory-taking of eligible poor children was underway,
\nHaryono pointed out.<\/p>\n
Around 2.5 million children have had to drop out of schools
\nand universities on account of the economic crisis; the figure,
\nhowever, was much smaller than the earlier projected 8 million.<\/p>\n
The government introduced the six-year basic compulsory
\neducation program in 1994, and later changed it to nine years in
\norder to cover the three years of high school education.<\/p>\n
The Central Bureau of Statistics said in 1997 that the
\nilliteracy rate here is 10.9 percent of the total population of
\n200 million. A total of 13.22 percent of all children over 5
\nyears of age have not yet been sent to school.<\/p>\n
Uramoto expressed hope that the private sector and other
\nelements in society would help maintain children in school, and
\nUnicef would help them find the most effective way for them to do
\nso.<\/p>\n
Unicef has sponsored the campaign to raise people's awareness
\nof the need to keep children in school. This campaign includes
\nthe televised message of Ayo Sekolah (Let's go to school)
\nfeaturing the popular actors Rano Karno and Mandra. (01)<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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