1,000 students quit school

SEMARANG: At least 1,000 students have dropped out of universities in the past couple of years mostly due to economic crisis, students affairs director of the ministry of education Sudarmaji said on Friday.

"Most of them are unable to pay the tuition fees. Actually some of them have been awarded scholarships, but not enough."

He said the scholarship budget for the current fiscal year reached Rp 104.24 billion, distributed to a total of 135,730 students nationwide.

"In exchange for the scholarships, the students work part time in libraries, laboratories or research agencies," he said.

In the upcoming fiscal year beginning on April 1, the scholarship fund will allocate Rp 77 billion for some 137,000 needy students, Rp 25.8 of it is allotted for top-ranked students. (har/edt)