50 students receive scholarships

50 students receive scholarships

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Children's Welfare Foundation
handed over scholarships to 50 elementary school students from
poor families in Cilincing slum area, North Jakarta, on Saturday.

The foundation's vice executive director, Arum R. Kusuma
Negara, said the scholarships were part of the Depot Anak program
launched by the foundation in July with the aim of helping
elementary school students continue their studies.

"The fund for the scholarships came from the public. We just
distribute help to the needy," Arum said.

She said the 50 students of Baburidho school on Jl. Cilincing
Baru received Rp 100,000 (US$13.30) each a year.

She said only 40 percent of the school's 115 students paid
their monthly tuition fees of between Rp 1,500 and Rp 6,000.

"We will try to help the other students get scholarships from
other institutions," she said.

The school's principal, Sultan Wahyudi, thanked the
foundation, saying that more donations from the public were
expected.

He said most of the students' parents were poor and worked as
fishermen or stevedores at Tanjung Priok Port.

"All of our students study here without uniforms. The most
important thing here is that they have to study," he said.

Some of the students dropped out of state schools because they
could not pay for tuition, he said.

"I often encourage parents to enroll their children here
without paying for tuition. The scholarships are very helpful,"
he said, adding that 18 of the school's teachers were paid only
between Rp 15,000 and Rp 60,000 a month.

Besides the scholarship handover, which was held in
conjunction with the commemoration of Social Solidarity Day on
Dec. 20, the foundation also donated Rp 5 million for the
renovation of the school's buildings, Arum said.

She said about 200 children in the area got free medical
checkups from 18 doctors of the Indonesian Pediatricians
Association on Saturday.

While the children had checkups, their parents received staple
food packages from private television station RCTI, she said.

Arum said the foundation received a mobile library from
HongKong Bank Jakarta. She said the foundation currently operated
four mobile libraries with a total collection of 6,000 book
titles servicing 15 slum areas in the city.

Besides receiving donations in the form of money, she said,
the foundation also hoped people would donate clothes and
stationary for children. (jun)