[Kabar-indonesia] Bantul education program suspended

[Joyo at aol.com]

The Jakarta Post
Thursday, November 2, 2006

Bantul education program suspended

Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post, Bantul

The Bantul regency administration says it has been forced to
suspend its mandatory 12-year education program because it
has to use education funds to rebuild from the devastating
May 27 earthquake.

"We don't have the means to continue the 12-year mandatory
education program and have been forced to stop it," said
Sudarman, the head of the Bantul Education and Cultural
Office.

The local administration launched the program last year in
an effort to improve the regency's human resources. It
earmarked Rp 3.6 billion (US$400,000) from its annual budget
for the program for the 2006-2007 school year.

The administration first established a program in December
2005 to determine the number of students who dropped out or
were forced to leave school at the elementary or junior high
level.

Based on data at the Bantul education office, there will be
about 11,000 junior high school graduates this year. Only
around 2,000 of them will be able to continue to the next
level of education. The rest will not because of economic
hardships.

Sudarman said Bantul's top priority was post-quake
reconstruction and rehabilitation.

"Bantul's reconstruction process is more urgent and needs a
lot of funds, including funds for the 12-year education
program," he said.

He added that the reconstruction process was expected to
take two years to complete, and that the education program
could be resumed by 2008.

The 6.3 magnitude quake claimed nearly 6,000 lives and left
hundreds of thousands of people homeless. Many are still
living in tents and temporary shelters.

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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