Poverty forces thousands of students to quit school

Agus Maryono, The Jakarta Post, Banjarnegara

Poverty has forced tens of thousands of students in Banjarnegara regency to drop out of school last year, official data from the local administration shows.

The data from the regency administration and the regency's education agency shows that in 2001 the number of junior high school students, between 13 years and 15 years of age, reached 43,336, but more than 20,000 of them dropped out.

From a total of 108,395 students in elementary schools last year, almost 10,000 dropped out, while from a total of 17,062 students who completed elementary schools, more than 6,000 were unable to continue on to junior high schools.

The data also shows that thousands of children in the regency could not go to school at all as their parents are too poor to pay for their school fees.

Banjarnegara education agency chief, Washadun told The Jakarta Post on Friday that the high drop out rates were due to poverty, which has worsened since the economic crisis in 1997.

"But based on our survey, there are also many parents who are able to finance their children's schooling but who wanted them to quit school," he said.

"Poverty is the main reason. We hope the economic crisis will end so that the parents can finance their children's schooling."

Deputy Regent of Banjarnegara, Hadi Supeno admitted that poverty in his regency was very serious. Of a total population of 881,309, almost 50 percent are poor. Their income is only sufficient to provide food, and for some even that is difficult.

"We're currently trying to find the solutions to the problem. One of the solution could be sourcing funds from foreign donors," he noted.