EDUCATION
They many not be able to beat them all at football (badminton is Indonesia’s specialty), but it comes to literacy rates, Indonesia is up there with the champs with 92.81 percent of the population being able to read, compared to Thailand’s 92.6 percent. Hey! That is so close it might as well be Thai…er…ummm…tie
By law, all Indonesians are required to attend nine years of school (not including kindergarten play group). It is broken up into three levels.
Basic school
(sekolahdasar): Grades 1 to 6, where you get to play around while learning to read and write.
Middle school
(sekolahmengenahpertama): Grades 7 to 9, where things get a little more serious, but at the least you can still wear shorts to school.
High school
(sekolahmengenahatas): Grades 10 to 12, where both English and long trousers for the boys are mandatory- -as students prepare for university life.
MONEY MATTERS
Currency: Rupiah Bt 1=330 Indonesian Rupiah. Yes, you need to dig out 2000 Rupiah to get on the bus in Jakarta! Sounds like a lot! Fortunately, they don’t make one-Rupiah coins anymore.
Wages: The average factory/day labourer/restaurant worker in Jakarta makes over one million Rupiah per year! Wow! A city of the millionaires! Um… wait! That equals about Bt 250 per month.
A middle class worker like a policeman ,secretary or nurse makes about 5 million Rupiah per year,
Which is about Bt 1,250 per month.
Fortunately, things are inexpensive in Indonesia. A nice plate of fried rice with egg and chicken will run you about Bt9 and renting an inexpensive apartment costs about Bt 400 per month.