With this year’s school enrollment period having drawn to a close, East Java Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa has apologized to parents who failed to place their children in state high schools.

Khofifah said state high schools across the region, especially in the provincial capital Surabaya, had a limited number of students that it could enroll. 

“I apologize to parents who were unable to secure a slot for their children in state high schools due to student enrollment limits,” Khofifah said on Saturday as quoted by kompas.com. 

She said the average state high school in East Java could only take in 35 percent of the region’s middle school graduates. 

“The rest may opt to enroll at state vocational high schools, private high schools, as well as state and private Islamic high schools,” Khofifah added. 

The results of student enrollment in the province, which factored in the school zoning system, were officially announced on Saturday at 9 a.m., after it was previously postponed from the original scheduled time of announcement on Friday. 

East Java Education Agency acting head Hudiyono said the school registration period had previously been extended since enrollment at several state high schools had yet to reach 100 percent. 

“As of Thursday evening, we saw that there were around 7,000 vacant slots across several state high schools, which was why we decided to extend the enrollment period,” Khofifah said. 

The school enrollment process drew the ire of many parents who complained that the school zoning system had complicated their efforts to secure a place for their children in state high schools. 

Many parents urged the government to use national exams scores as the basis for enrollment in the future. (rfa)