Low budget for education

Low budget for education

From Republika

It is sad to learn that the budget allocated for the education of Indonesian children only accounts for 3.8 percent of the total state budget of Rp 295.1 trillion. This amount is too small, especially compared with the budgets of Malaysia, Singapore and even Bangladesh.

This low budget shows the government's small investment in building a strong younger generation. Children are national assets and they will later lead the country. If Indonesian children, most of whom live in dire poverty, are potential school dropouts, what will happen to them later?

As over half of Indonesia's population lives in poverty, millions of children toil in factories, on the roads, at garbage sites, in prostitution and even in refugee camps.

Is there any awareness at all that these millions of Indonesian children now living in poverty may be a lost generation? Some day they may become looters, hooligans, terrorists, robbers or vandals. Certainly nobody wishes to see this happen.

MEITA A LUBIS

Jakarta