127,000 drop out of school

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)