Economic woes force 12,000 W. Java students to drop out
Economic woes force 12,000 W. Java students to drop out
JAKARTA (JP): Twelve thousand West Java elementary school
students can no longer afford education, according to the head of
the West Java education and culture office.
"This must be quickly overcome or the figure will increase,"
said Hasymi Romly on Monday in a discussion on elementary
education in Garut, West Java. Antara reported a large proportion
of the students' parents had lost their jobs.
On Wednesday Minister of Education and Culture Juwono
Sudarsono said high public awareness of education had helped to
forestall the initially estimated 6.5 million drop-outs at all
levels, including higher education.
So far 2.5 million had dropped out, Juwono said, but did not
give a breakdown for each level. Among the measures it was
taking, Juwono said the government was working to exempt students
from poor families from paying school fees.
Hasymi said among his office's efforts to keep students in
school, nonformal education known as Paket A at elementary level
and Paket B at junior high level was being organized for drop-
outs, Hasymi said. The report did not cite the number of actual
drop-outs from either levels.
Hasymi said distance learning would also be developed.
A program involving the public called Love Your Alumni
Elementary School Movement in which people contribute to their
former elementary schools, has raised Rp 270 million (US$24,500).
The funds will be prioritized to children of dismissed
workers, Hasymi said. He added that a constraint on the
government program to provide the nine-year basic education was
the lack of facilities, particularly in Moslem junior high
schools, the madrasah tsanawiyah.
A six-year joint project with the World Bank, the West Java
Basic Education Project, he said, was among the schemes funding
the renovation of school buildings.
In the first year the project involved 12 regencies:
Lebak, Pandeglang, Sukabumi, Cianjur, Majalengka, Kuningan,
Indramayu, Subang, Karawang, Bandung, Garut and Tasikmalaya.
The project cost US$130.2 million, of which 80 percent was a
World Bank loan and the rest came from the government.
Among West Java's 48,731 elementary school buildings, 4,423
were badly damaged, Hasymi said.
Thousands of needy students have received more than Rp 13.4
billion in education funds from the National Foster Parent
Movement. The students included 29,469 in West Java.
A release from the Movement, GNOTA, said Sunday that since
Aug. 8 public contributions totaling Rp 13,437,420,000 which it
had received had been distributed to 180,714 students in 26
provinces.
An executive of GNOTA, Jeannette Sudjunadi, that of the
contributions, 78,873 "packages" had been received in regencies.
Packages refer to funds of Rp 60,000 for elementary school
students and Rp 90,000 for junior high school students channeled
through school principals in Java through the state-owned Bank
Rakyat Indonesia. Outside Java, the packages refer to
contributions of uniforms, shoes and writing equipment.
The report did not specify the number of elementary and junior
high students who received assistance. The contributions included
101,841 parcels scheduled for delivery from Sunday to next month.
"GNOTA is also preparing contributions for around 700,000 more
foster students," Sudjunadi said. (anr)