Wealthy people urged to help poor students

JAKARTA (JP): Governor Sutiyoso is urging affluent parents to assist students from financially troubled families to stay in school, including donating used uniforms and books.

He said on Wednesday economically disadvantaged students badly needed help from the government and their wealthier schoolmates to enable them to get through the hardship.

"I know there must be a lot of people out there, especially those whose children have grown up and left their books and uniforms, who would be happy to give away the stuff to children of poor families."

He encouraged cash-strapped parents to keep their children in school, even if it required them wearing used uniforms.

"There's nothing to be ashamed of having children wearing used uniforms or using used books. I did not feel ashamed myself when as a student I went to the Pasar Ular flea market to find secondhand stuffs."

Sutiyoso said the administration would do its utmost to help ensure students got an education.

"We'll try to get some money from some items in the budget which can still be utilized. I think I'll use also some amount out of my tactical budget to help subsidize the school fees for the children."

The head of the city office of the Ministry of Education and Culture, Alwi Nurdin, said the number of elementary and junior high schools students not continuing their education this year increased by at least 10 percent from last year.

"We believe the main reason behind it is the worsening monetary crisis, even though we have not been able to prove it with detailed statistics."

Alwi disclosed the number of grade and junior high school graduates who dropped out this year reached about 23,537 and 66,852, respectively.

He said his office would set up a committee to help subsidize the tuition fees of students of poor families for one year starting next month. Each student would receive Rp 20,000 per month, he added.

Deputy Governor for Social Welfare Affairs Djailani encouraged poor families to make use of the government's facility to get exemption of school entrance and monthly tuition fees by applying for the financial status document at their respective subdistrict offices.

Djailani reminded the subdistrict officials not to obstruct poor families by charging extraneous fees for the applications.

He also warned subdistrict heads not to manipulate data on the number of dropouts or poor families in their areas merely to save face.

City councilor Soeparmo, head of Commission E for social welfare affairs, said Tuesday demand for the financial status document surged after the monetary crisis hit the country.

"Hardly anyone applied for such document a couple of years ago. Many still find it embarrassing to let people and officials know that they are poor," he said. (cst)