Ministry ordered to help crisis-affected students
JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto has ordered Ministry of Education officials and university rectors to help students with financial difficulties so they can continue their studies.
The President said he gave special attention to university students because the nature's fortune and future depended on the level and quality of education for the next generation.
"The current monetary crisis has a large influence on how education is being organized, (affecting) not only the government, but also society, educators and students themselves," the President told ministerial officials in a ceremony to mark National Education Day on Saturday at the State Palace.
The day coincided with the birthday of Ki Hajar Dewantara, who founded the nationalistic Taman Siswa learning institution in the 1920s.
The current economic turmoil has caused severe problems for many students, including university students, as many parents have lost their sources of income, while prices continue to soar.
"Higher education institutes, which we have been building and developing for a long time, must be sustained as the source for the nation's future leadership," Soeharto said.
In attendance at the ceremony were Vice President B.J. Habibie, Minister of Education and Culture Wiranto Arismunandar, and Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare and Poverty Alleviation Haryono Suyono.
The President said the education sector had made encouraging progress, especially with the government's compulsory education program.
Introduced in 1994 to encourage all children to go to school, the program states that students must complete a minimum of nine years education.
At that time, 5.6 million of the country's 13.4 million children could not continue their studies to junior high school level.
"In 1997 the number (of unschooled children) dropped to 3.7 million children. We hope that the compulsory education goal can be achieved before the end of the Seventh Five-Year Development Plan," Soeharto noted.
Analysts and government officials have acknowledged economic hardships were one of the key motives behind the current student demonstrations.
"Many students in Yogyakarta have to stay in mosques because they can no longer afford to pay their room rent," Minister of Information Alwi Dahlan said recently.
National Education Day was celebrated in merry ceremonies at all schools and universities across the country.
All 27 provincial governors led ceremonies and read out Wiranto's written address. Teachers and ministry officials who have worked as civil servants for 10, 20 and 30 years received medals from the government in appreciation for their loyal service.
Central Java Governor Soewardi announced that he had allocated Rp 204 million (US$2.5 million) to help students of local elementary school and Madrasah Ibtidaiyah (Islamic primary school) pay their final examination fees.
"With this subsidy, a Madrasah student only needs to pay Rp 1,445 from the original Rp 3,375 fee, while state school students are fully subsidized by the government," Antara quoted Soewardi as saying.
In Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, head of the education ministry's office Moh. Kosim said the province needed 700 new teachers per year while the central government agreed to employ only 500 teachers.
In Bali, 568 elementary schools, working in remote areas in the province, received Rp 50,000 each from Governor Ida Bagus Oka in a brief ceremony. (prb)