Education in Rural Areas
Adequate education is an important tool for reaping the benefits of the demographic bonus so that the large number of young people will not instead become a demographic disaster.
Siwi Nugraheni
A few weeks ago, I met a rural micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) activist. He talked about the difficulties of the children in villages in continuing their education to junior high and high school or equivalent levels. There is a private secondary school, but the fee is quite expensive. To make a long story short, children's access to secondary schools in villages is often hampered by costs.
I heard and witnessed a decade ago in two different places stories about the difficulties of village children in continuing their studies to secondary education. In 2002, in a province outside Java, I met young women, aged under 20. The young women in the village usually get married after elementary school. They do not have the opportunity to continue their education. The nearest junior high school is 40 kilometers away, so if they want to continue their education, they have to live separately from their parents, which means additional costs to live independently.