Riau schools close registration

Almost 13,000 elementary and junior high school students in Pekanbaru, Riau, will not be able to pursue their studies in affordable state schools, the Antara news agency reported on Monday.

The students who failed to pass the national examination recently were supposed to take another supplementary examination on Monday. However, almost all state schools had closed registrations on Saturday last week.

Riau Education Office head Tengku Dahril said on Monday the office had asked the state high schools to delay closing registrations. But, the schools ignored the call because their study places were already occupied by students who had passed the national test, Tengku said.

Amrul, a parent of a student who failed the national exam, said he was disappointed about the premature closure of registrations.

"My son is still struggling to pass the senior high school supplementary test," Amrul said as quoted by detik.com.

About 7,000 elementary school students and 5,904 junior high school students failed the exam, education office data showed. -- Antara