Child refugees forced to stop studies

Child refugees forced to stop studies

PALU, Central Sulawesi: The Poso regency administration said
on Thursday thousands of child refugees in the region were forced
to stop their studies because their school buildings had been
burned down during the three-year sectarian conflict.

The head of the regency education office, Suriady Ngewa, said
only 10 of 21 destroyed school buildings had been rebuilt, and
that the others would have to wait until financial assistance was
received from the central government.

"Up to now only one non-governmental organization (NGO) has
helped us to rebuild a school building," he said.

Poso deputy regent Abdul Malik Syahadat said most NGOs were
focusing on providing health and food assistance, at the expense
of education.

There are 54,132 school-age children across Poso regency, some
30.87 percent of whom live in refugee camps in Palu, Morowali
regency, Donggala regency and several regencies in North and
South Sulawesi. --Antara