Bekasi in effort to up education

Bekasi in effort to up education

BEKASI: Regent Saleh Manaf revealed that 514 elementary school
buildings, or 60 percent of a total of 700 schools in the
district, were in disrepair.

"We are considering alloting more of the 2005 budget to
renovating the schools in 23 subdistricts and 187 villages, which
were mostly built in 1980s," he said on Wednesday.

Education rates in the regency are low. While 94.22 percent of
children went to the elementary schools in 2003 and 84.22 percent
went to junior high schools, only 19.7 percent of students
attended high schools, the regent said.

"We will involve businesspeople to provide scholarships for
children aged between six and 18," Saleh Manaf said. -- JP