Vocational school lacks students

PURWOKERTO, Central Java: The Sendang Mas Javanese art school here has seen its students dwindle down to only 58 this academic year from 500 when it was opened in 1989.

The school's headmaster, Suhardi, said only 38 students are now left after 20 students graduated recently.

Suhardi said nobody has enrolled for the school for the new academic year which starts in mid-July, but he remains optimistic about the future of the school.

"Someday, many people will seek our graduates," Suhardi said of the school, one of seven schools of its kind in the country.

He attributed the lack of interest in studying Javanese arts in the state vocational school to the fact that many of its graduates were unemployed.

"Besides, people and parents do not encourage children to study here," Suhardi complained. (45)