Banda Aceh – Achievements toward the Millennium Development Goals in Aceh remain far from the expected target of 2015, national program coordinator Ivan A. Hadar said Monday.

"The number of people below the poverty line there hit 23.53 percent in 2008. It is still very far from what we expected," he told a seminar as quoted by Antara news agency in Banda Aceh.

The figure makes Aceh the country's sixth poorest province, while Papua was the poorest with 42 percent of its population living below the poverty line, Ivan added.

He explained several regencies in Aceh, such as West Aceh, Nagan Raya, Pidie and North Aceh, saw high poverty rates of between 34.27 and 35.94 percent.

In the education field, the ratio of male and female students attending elementary schools was also still low in Langsa, Aceh Tamiang, Pidie and Simeulue, Ivan added.