No room in school for thousands

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

With the new academic year drawing near, some 13,000 junior high school graduates across South Kalimantan are facing the possibility of having to give up their formal education due to a limited number of places in senior high schools, an official said.

The head of intermediate education at the province's education agency, Humaidi Syukeri, said there were an estimate 22,000 places in both state and private senior high schools for the coming academic year, which started next Monday. This figure, he added, was far lower than the 35,000 who were due to graduate from junior high school.

"We are not certain about their future, whether they will be able to continue their studies in senior high school as their number exceeds the number of places in the senior high schools," Humaidi said in Banjarmasin.

He explained that the number of senior high school graduates usually was broadly similar to the number of places to be filled by new students.

"Many junior high school graduates have yet to enroll in, or are unable to qualify for, senior high school. They could choose Islamic boarding schools as an alternative," he added.

Abdullah Amin, the head of the provincial education agency, suggested that parents avoid forcing their children to enter popular schools.

He said many parents complained about the limited number of places mainly because they insisted on choosing popular schools for their children.

"In principle, all schools are the same, none of them should be more popular than others. All schools are treated equally by the government," he said.

He warned that the popular schools could not guarantee better results if the students were not willing to work hard.