800 RI students drop out in Malaysia

SAMARINDA, East Kalimantan: The economic crisis has been blamed for the local education office's inaction over 800 Indonesian children who dropped out of elementary and secondary school in neighboring Tawao, Sabah, East Malaysia.

Antara quoted the head of the education office, H. Chairudin, as saying here on Saturday that some programs were being prepared for the children, including a mission in cooperation with the Indonesian consulate to send teachers from the Nunukan district in the Bulungan regency to teach the children.

Nunukan is separated from Tawao by the distance of a two-hour speedboat trip.

The local education office requested funds from the government to help the children stay in school, but has not yet received a response. Chairudin said this was probably because of the economic crisis.

The children are in Sabah with their parents who work on plantations.

In East Kalimantan alone, 3,080 students dropped out of school. Another 1,382 have yet to enroll in elementary school, 5,139 have not enrolled in junior high school and 24,308 students had to repeat their grades. (swe)