Lack of funds halts school renovation

Lack of funds halts school renovation

CILACAP, Central Java: A limited budget has put a halt to a
renovation project for 800 elementary school buildings in the
regency. Head of the regental education agency Sutoyo said that
there were 1,132 elementary schools and that 70 percent of them
were damaged.

"The buildings are already old and they need renovation. But
the budget we have only comes to 10 percent of the needed funds,"
he said on Monday, adding that the renovation was estimated to
cost Rp 100 billion (US$12.2 million).

The agency has started to combine several schools into a
single institute in order to overcome the lack of funds, as well
as to anticipate a drop in students for the upcoming academic
year.

Sutoyo said that there were 82 combined schools so far, which
cost the agency Rp 3 billion. The process is expected to be
completed next year. -- JP