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