Islamic students demonstrate

SEMARANG, Central Java: About 600 students of the state Walisongo Institute for Islamic Studies (IAIN) staged a demonstration Saturday to protest the government's plan to merge the school with one in Purwokerto.

The demonstrators said the plan would only pose a major burden to the Purwokerto's IAIN Kalijogo, which is still far from ideal as an institution of higher learning.

"We know that in Purwokerto the 1,600 students are served by 29 lecturers," said a spokesman for the demonstrators, Suripto.

He said in the Purwokerto IAIN, the lecturer-student ratio is 1:55, which is worse than that of the Semarang school, which stands at 1:30. (har)