No buses means no students

No buses means no students

Theresia Sufa, The Jakarta Post, Bogor

The Bogor administration's plan to protect the scenic Sukamakmur area from uncontrolled development has turned it into a backwater, teachers say, with schools finding it difficult to attract students.

While it has beautiful views, the alternative route connecting Jakarta and Cipanas district in West Java is isolated and has no public transport system connecting the outlying villages to Sukamakmur town, where the two state junior high schools are.

Teachers say the lack of buses means few villagers, who are mostly small farmers, are able or willing to send their children to high school.

Every year, high school teachers walk for up to 10 km to each of the 10 villages in the district for door-to-door checks to look for prospective elementary-school graduates.

"That is our challenge as teachers in an isolated area like this," Ayi Zaenal Falah, a teacher of Sukamakmur Junior High School No. 2, told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

Parents who did send their children to school still kept them home every harvest time to take care of the house and their younger siblings while they worked in the fields.

"The nearest high schools are in Jonggol or Cianjur districts, which means hours of walking, or to Bogor, which is 120 kilometers from Sukamakmur," Ayi said.

The central government's assistance program for school operations, a scheme known as BOS, meant children could go to elementary and junior high schools for free without any additional fees imposed, Ayi said.

"So the parents should no longer worry about school fees ... We just hope that they will let their children go to school."