Japan donates Rp1.5b stationery

JAKARTA (JP): Japanese Ambassador to Indonesia Takao Kawakami has donated 9 million (Rp 1.5 billion) worth of stationery to elementary and junior high schools in Greater Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Surabaya and Bali.

Packages were symbolically presented on Thursday to 19 students from seven elementary schools and three junior high schools in Greater Jakarta.

The ceremony, held at the Ministry of Education and Culture, was attended by minister Juwono Sudarsono.

Procured using funds collected by the Indonesian Students Association in Japan and the Japanese non-governmental organization True Friends, the stationery will be distributed to elementary and junior high students under the auspices of four universities here.

They are the University of Indonesia (UI), Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), the Jakarta Teachers Training Institute (IKIP Jakarta) and Surabaya Institute of Technology (ITS).

According to Suseno from the faculty of the Jakarta Teachers Training Institute, 60 percent of the donated items had been distributed through the education and cultural attache of the Japanese Embassy.

Suseno said the second batch would arrive once the universities had finished distributing the first quantity.

"From IKIP Jakarta, we already know that we will distribute to at least 1,200 students from 15 schools in Jakarta. The other universities are still finding schools they can donate to," Suseno said. (ylt)