Ministry ordered to help crisis-affected students

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)