School dropouts on the rise in Yogyakarta due to poverty<\/p>\n
Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta<\/p>\n
Despite being known as a university city, Yogyakarta has seen an
\nincrease in the number of school dropouts, with an average of 500
\nelementary school students forced to quit school due to poverty.<\/p>\n
A similar situation was observed in high schools in the
\nprovince. In the 2002-2003 academic year, at least 404 junior
\nhigh and 382 senior high school students had to abandon their
\nstudies.<\/p>\n
The number of dropouts in vocational schools was even higher,
\nreaching 934 students.<\/p>\n
\"After investigating the case, we find out that the biggest
\ncontributing factor in the number of dropouts was the economic
\nstatus of the parents,\" Yogyakarta education office head Suhadi
\nsaid on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Apart from the dropouts, he said, financial difficulties also
\ncaused at least 11,672 elementary school students to fail their
\nexams and hence to discontinue their studies.<\/p>\n
The students had to work to help their parents, Suhadi added.<\/p>\n
\"There are other contributing factors causing them to drop out
\nof school, but the highest contributing factor is that their
\nparents cannot afford to pay for their children's education,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
He said that the number of dropouts from junior and senior
\nhigh schools during the 2003-2004 academic period was 404 and 382
\nrespectively.<\/p>\n
The number of junior high school students who did not go on to
\nthe next class was 352 students and 240 others from senior high
\nschools, he added.<\/p>\n
Suhadi said his office has created a scholarship program for
\npoor students, so they would be able to continue their studies.<\/p>\n
But unfortunately, the scholarship program could not be
\nenjoyed by all students from poor families because of limited
\nfunds allocated for the project, he said.<\/p>\n
Suhadi said the scholarships could only be extended to 1.7
\npercent of all elementary school students, 5 percent of junior
\nhigh school students and 3.4 percent of senior high school
\nstudents in Yogyakarta.<\/p>\n
He said the local education office welcomed efforts by the
\nYogyakarta education council to raise funds for scholarship
\nprograms.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Yogyakarta's Muhammadiyah junior high school
\nprincipal Endra Widyarsono attributed the economic hardship on
\nthe part of parents to his school's budget deficit.<\/p>\n
\"This problem is quite normal because 90 percent of the
\nparents have an income of less than Rp 600,000 (US$70.00) per
\nmonth each,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He explained that some of the parents work as laborers and
\npedicab drivers who do not pay much attention to their children's
\neducation.<\/p>\n
Endra said that out of the 105 students at his school, only
\nsix had paid their school fees until March, adding that some of
\nthem had not paid their school fees for the last six months.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/school-dropouts-on-the-rise-in-yogyakarta-due-to-poverty-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}