The scholarships are intended to help the students with their educational fees, as their families have suffered material losses due to the Mount Sinabung eruptions.
Kabanjahe, N Sumatera (ANTARA News) - The government will provide scholarships to the students attending elementary schools and colleges, who were affected by the Mount Sinabung eruptions, declared President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

"The scholarships are intended to help the students with their educational fees, as their families have suffered material losses due to the Mount Sinabung eruptions," Yudhoyono stated, while addressing thousands of refugees at the evacuation shelter in the Kabanjahe Catholic Church, Kabanjahe, Karo, North Sumatra, on Friday.

The president added that the scholarship scheme was finalized during the meeting attended by several ministers, Governor of North Sumatra, as well as the officials from the Tanah Karo District and National Disaster Mitigation Agency on Thursday (Jan. 23).

"The central government will ensure that there are no school and college dropouts due to the natural disaster," he claimed.

The president emphasized that the college students from Karo, who mostly studied in the Kabanjahe City, should be supported so that they can continue their studies until graduation.

The farms belonging to the residents living in proximity to Mount Sinabung in Karo, North Sumatra, have been destroyed by the volcanic ash dispersed as a result of the ongoing volcanic eruptions since early January.

The central and local governments have been working in tandem to relocate the residents living close to the eruption site and providing logistic support to the victims at the evacuation shelters.

During his visit to Kabanjahe, President Yudhoyono was accompanied by First Lady Ani Yudhoyono and several ministers including State Secretary Minister Sudi Silalahi, Coordinator Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto, Coordinator Minister of Public Welfare Agung Laksono, and other high-ranking officials.

(A060/INE/B003)

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Editor: Ella Syafputri
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