Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – Despite a compulsory basic education program launched by the government in 1994, enrollment figures remain disappointing in many regions.
In a survey of a quarter of the country's 440 regencies and municipalities, officials said Tuesday almost half of children between ages 13 and 15 were being denied the benefits of a secondary education.
West Papua, East Nusa tenggara and Central Kalimantan are among the regions where junior high school enrollment rates (APM) remain lowest.
Poverty was mostly to blame, as well the mind-set of parents who sometimes view school fees as a waste of money. Inadequate physical facilities were also a factor in keeping kids from getting a primary and middle school education.
Education Ministry data from 2007 showed West Papua (five regencies surveyed) with an APM of about 40 percent, East Nusa Tenggara (17 regencies) with 50 percent, and Central Kalimantan (four regencies) with between 42 and 60 percent.
Some 12.98 million kids, five percent of the nation's 240 million population, are 13- to 15-year old "schoolchildren". By law children must attend primary school for six years and middle school for three. However, while school may be compulsory, it isn't free.
The country's most densely populated province, West Java, where some 2.2 million 13- to 15-year-olds live, had the most children unable to attend junior high. The regencies in West Java with the lowest junior high enrollment rates included Sukabumi, Cianjur and Indramayu, where the figure was only 50 to 60 percent.
Education Minister Bambang Sudibyo said this year the government would wrap up the compulsory basic education program after nine years. He said a 95 percent national gross participation rate (APK) for junior high school was the goal.
In 2007, the APK – which is different from the APM because it also takes into account adults back in school – was about 93 percent, or 963,000 enrollees short.
"We will encourage all primary school graduates to continue their studies at junior high school to achieve this target," Bambang said in an address at a ceremony Tuesday marking the final stages of the program.
"We will also conduct sweeps in community and neighborhood units across the country to find 13-15 year-old children still out of school," he added. The minister said the government would also build 500 junior high schools and 11,069 classrooms this year.
In attendance at the Tuesday event was Religious Affairs Minister Muhammad Maftuh Basyuni, who also bears responsibility for the seeing compulsory education succeed. Around 21 percent of students affected by the program are studying at Islamic schools under ministry supervision.