127,000 drop out of school

PADANG, West Sumatra: An estimated 127,000 children in the province have dropped out of elementary schools during the current 1995-1996 school year.

Head of the provincial office of the Ministry of Education and Culture, Ismed Syarif, said Thursday that included in the number are children who finished elementary school but did not go on to junior high schools.

"There are a great number of reasons for the children not to continue their education, but financial problems are the most common," Ismed was quoted by Antara as saying.

The fact of overly-crowded classrooms and lack of teachers also contribute to the high rate of school dropouts, he said.

"Those children just don't see anything interesting about going to school," Ismed said. (swe)