Compulsory education to achieve 98 percent in 2009

National Education Minister Bambang Sudibyo is optimistic that the nine-year compulsory education program will achieve 98 percent of the target of the 2005-2009 National Education Development`s strategic plan coverage this year.

"The compulsory education program for junior high school students has achieved 95 percent of its target in 2008, especially in major provinces," Minister Sudibyo said when officially opening the 2009 National Education Conference at Depok, West Java, on Monday.

Some obstacles facing the national compulsory education program included a geographical problem and a lack of parents` awareness of education importance for their children, he said.

The coverage achieved in the compulsory education program was 85.22 percent in 2005, 88.68 percent in 2006, 92.52 percent in 2007 and 96.18 percent in 2008 Ten provinces which have achieved the highest coverage percentage, were Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Riau Islands, Riau, Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD), West Sumatra, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), Bengkulu, Bali, and East Java, Suyanto, the director general of elementary and intermediate school management, said.

Ten provinces having the lowest coverage percentage were West Kalimantan, Southeast Sulawesi, West Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi, Gorontalo, Central Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), Papua, West Papua, and South Sumatra.

The education ministry would focus on providing education services to around 963,891 children aged between 13 and 18 years old, or 7.48 percent of those not yet covered by the compulsory education program, he said. (Antara)