Pre-school education unpopular

SURABAYA: Most of Indonesia's children do not receive proper pre-school education for a variety of reasons -- ranging from the government's inability to offer local programs to poverty, an official said.

Director General of Informal Education and Youth Affairs Fasli Jalal said that only 2.13 million of the 12.23 million children between the ages of four and six could attend pre-school programs, along with either play groups or kindergarten.

Fasli said that, in a paper read by Director of Pre-school Education Hutomo, many local governments do not see pre-school education as a priority, while many parents simply cannot afford to send children to kindergarten.

The government set up the Directorate of Pre-school Education only in March of last year.

It previously launched the regulation of nine years' of compulsory school for children in 1993. But the government has fallen short of funding to run the same program for children below school age. -- Antara