Bantul announces education initiative

BANTUL, Yogyakarta: As part of efforts to raise the quality of human resources, the Bantul regency government announced plans on Wednesday to provide 12 years of education for all residents.

The program will be implemented next year and will cost the regency government some Rp 3.6 billion (US$360,000) a year.

A large portion of the money will be channeled to students from poor families to allow them to remain in school at least through high school.

Students in Indonesia normally spend six years in elementary school, three years in junior high and three years in high school. According to government data, last year in Bantul 112 out of 12,000 students dropped out of elementary school, and 2,791 out of 11,000 students dropped out of junior high school. However, local authorities believe the dropout rate is much higher. -- JP