130,000 illiterate in Surabaya

130,000 illiterate in Surabaya

SURABAYA: At least 130,000 residents of the East Java capital
of Surabaya are illiterate, chairman of the City's Development
Planning Board Biempi Harbimaharani said here on Tuesday.

Speaking in a one-day seminar on development planning, Biempi
said that the illiterate were among 218,650 residents who had
never participated in any kind of formal education.

Without revealing the average age of illiterate people, he
claimed that the prolonged economic crisis had contributed to the
unfavorable situation.

"Surabaya now has a total of 2.5 million permanent residents,
and one million seasonal residents. Illiteracy is a very serious
problem to be dealt with. Surabaya is the second largest city in
the country," he said.

"Only 289,360 out of the 2.5 million permanent residents were
university graduates," he said, adding that the city had a total
of 853,838 high school graduates and 617,590 junior high school
graduates. (nur/sur)