Bintan Regency Government Prepares 22 Coastal Student Intership Boats

Head of the Bintan Education Office, Thamsir. ANTARA/

BINTAN - The government of Bintan Regency, Riau Islands has prepared 22 traditional boats that are used as sea transportation to deliver and pick up coastal students every day of school. Head of the Bintan Education Office, Thamsir, said that the free coastal student pick-up program will be increased this year. In 2022, the number of boats carrying students to school, and picking up students from school to port is 21 units, while in 2023 it will increase to 22 units. The increase in the number of sea transportation equipment to transport elementary-SMP students is based on the aspirations of parents of students and the school. "In 2022, the budget allocated for the free sea transportation program for elementary-SMP students is IDR 2.9 billion, then this year it will increase to IDR 3.1 billion," he said in Bintan, Antara, Tuesday, February 14. Thamsir said the program was implemented to ease the burden on parents, as well as encourage school-age children not to drop out of school due to geographical, economic and time factors. Many school-age children do not receive education in schools, among others, due to economic factors and the distance between homes and schools is quite far, and must be taken by boat because of different islands. Through this program, students living on islands in Bintan Pesisir District, Mantang Island, Kelong Island, Tambelan Island and Yandun Island can use boats every day to go to school for free. When they came home from school, he said the students were also escorted to his home on another island. "So the benefits of this program are extraordinary. We continue to encourage children to stay in school, not drop out of school and get an education until they become undergraduates. There is no reason for them to become fishermen when they are children," he said. The attention of the Bintan Regency Government is not only addressed to students who live on islands. Students who live on the mainland of Bintan also get school pick-up delivery facilities by bus for free. In 2022, he said, the Bintan Regency Government will deploy 30 buses to deliver and pick up students. Meanwhile, in 2023, the government will add a bus fleet to 32 units according to the needs of students. The program, according to him, has a positive impact on students, especially from underprivileged families, whose homes are far from school. "There are hundreds of elementary-sMP students whose homes are far from school, therefore we help them so that they don't have trouble getting education at school, even though they are far away," he said.