6,100 poor students need aid

6,100 poor students need aid

BOGOR: More than 6,100 elementary school students from 30
subdistricts in Bogor regency need financial help because the
poor economic condition of their families.

Nurhadiaty, head of the basic education office of the town,
said that Bogor also was in need of more than 800 teachers.

She said that there were 1,670 teachers in 282 elementary
schools with 2,478 classrooms and 94,500 students. This year it
would only be able to recruit 300 teachers with its current
budget, all of whom will be hired on a contract basis.

Nurhadiaty said the administration had provided aid for 4,625
poor students. Each of them receives Rp 70,000 cash as well as
stationery worth Rp 50,000. The parents of another 1,499 students
were given Rp 80,000 each.

The aid, according to Nurhadiaty, is far from adequate to meet
all their needs. Her office calculated the total cost of the
needs and decided that each of the poor students needed Rp
360,000 a year, but the administration had not allocated that
much in the budget, apparently due to other financial
priorities.--JP