Lack of money, space keep kids from school

PEKANBARU, Riau: An average 400,000 of three million elementary school students drop out of school annually due to financial constraints and the limited capacity of junior high schools to accommodate new students, an official says.

Director of Secondary Education Hammid Muhammad at the Ministry of National Education said on Saturday the government had expanded the capacity of junior high schools by 12,000 classrooms each year, but still could not meet demand.

"We are short of classrooms for incoming elementary school graduates, especially in rural and remote areas," he said. -- JP