37.5 million still illiterate

BAUBAU, North Sulawesi: Around 37.5 million people in the country remain illiterate due to poverty and high education fees, Minister of National Education Malik Fajar said on Thursday.

The minister's statement was read by North Sulawesi governor La Ode Kaimoeddin in the celebration of International Literacy Day that the national movement to eradicate illiteracy would be among the priority programs as it is related to poverty.

Malik urged people to take part in the program by donating money to the poor so they could pay for public education fees.

Meanwhile, head of the North Sulawesi Education Office Rahimin Katjong said that the province had opened non-formal education programs equivalent to elementary and junior high schools, short courses for trade apprenticeships and entrepreneurship. However, only 5,496 of some 54,000 illiterate people were admitted to the programs this year, he said. --Antara