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