Bina Anaprasa provides preschool for the needy

By Devi M. Asmarani and Primastuti Handayani

JAKARTA (JP): The small, plain building in Kwitang subdistrict, Central Jakarta, goes unnoticed save for the clamor resonating from inside.

Several women, relaxed in conversation, congregate on wooden benches outside, and the lively sounds grow louder as one nears the building.

Inside, about 40 energetic kids sit facing their teacher on rows of mini chairs and desks. This community hall is now utilized as a preschool for the area's children.

The 35-square-meter room lacks the abundant toys and elaborate displays of many upmarket preschools. It does not even have a playground with the usual swings and slides. Children have to line chairs up by the walls before the beginning of a physical education class on the floor.

Despite the limited amenities, the most important factors of a successful children's center, enthusiastic kids and dedicated teachers who love their students, are present.

This is one of the Bina Anaprasa preschools, part of a special program of the Indonesian Planned Parenthood Association (PKBI), a non-governmental association.

Bina Anaprasa (BAP) is open to children aged four to six years, and sometimes younger.

A parent or idealistic educator might frown at the knowledge that civics and history are among the subjects taught. But the school administration assures that only subjects such as the Pancasila ideology are touched on, and in as simple terms as possible.

The program was started in 1979 by a professor in obstetrics, Haryono, in Medokan Ayu, a poor village on the East Java coast. His aim was to not only educate preschoolers from poor families, but also their parents.

"Bina Anaprasa is only one of PKBI's programs," says program officer Teguh M. Abduh. "It is actually aimed at keeping the mothers within our planned parenthood program."

The children's education is just the starting point of the program in helping parents learn more about their child's welfare, Teguh said.

There are now 400 BAP schools in 10 provinces. All are independently operated by the subdistrict offices or local Islamic boarding schools called pesantren.

PKBI's role is to help set up the center by providing the curriculum, teacher training, furniture and displays, Teguh said.

"We usually help by managing and funding the centers for about three years, or until the locals are ready to take over the management," he said.

Many of the preschools outside Java are at transmigration sites, while others are located in major cities.

Despite the high demand for such institutions in Jakarta, only the Kwitang PKBI and one in Johar Baru, Central Jakarta operate in the capital.

Fees of each school vary, but are comparatively low, ranging from Rp 300 to Rp 5,000 a month.

The program started with almost no money 18 years ago.

When Haryono started the program, each parent had to pay for the program with the harvest from a square meter of land, instead of with money.

The land was planted with banana trees and the fruit was then sold to the local hospital, with proceeds going to the preschool.

In Kwitang, where most parents are traders in the nearby market and family income is considerably higher than elsewhere, parents have to pay Rp 55,000 for the enrollment fee and Rp 5,000 monthly. Provision of two uniforms and school necessities is included in the enrollment fee.

The monthly fee in Johar Baru is Rp 4,000.

Some of the BAP preschools, such as the ones in Jakarta, are called "BAP plus" meaning they offer additional medical services for local children in cooperation with another group.

The Bimantara Group is one corporation which has supplied doctors and medicine to the Kwitang BAP, and the Johar Baru cooperates with local community health centers.

The schools are open four days a week. On the two remaining days, the hall opens for health services.

Benefits

How have the locals benefited from the programs?

A PKBI executive in Kwitang says parents, especially mothers, are now more involved with their children.

Lili Sutiati Suwondo, the chairwoman of the Central Jakarta branch of PKBI, lists the improvements to the area.

The Kwitang subdistrict looks tidier as "this area wasn't this clean before", she said.

"There were wells on the street where people would bathe so we had to shut our eyes when we passed by."

Parents have developed a greater sense of responsibility, she added. "Mothers would take their kids to school in their night gowns and flip flops with a face that looked like they had just got out of bed. They didn't feel the need to be presentable because they said they were just `a becak driver's wife'.

We could not let the students kiss our hands because their noses were always runny."

This has all changed today, she said. "Now the kids are healthier and cleaner, the mothers look more presentable, and we even taught them some handcraft skills which they could sell and make extra money from."

Teguh said elementary school teachers thanked PKBI for the preschool program.

"Previously they said it could take them as long as six months just to teach the kids to sit still in class and stop them from crying," he said.

Moreover, PKBI's own survey shows Bina Anaprasa graduates tend to do better academically than those who have not attended a preschool, even up to the third grade of elementary school.

But like all other independent institutions, PAB faces challenges of financing and recruiting teachers.

"..It is hard to find teachers who are willing to get paid so little, and sometimes almost nothing," Teguh said.

Private companies or individuals contribute once in a while, but most of the time the schools struggle just to stay open.

Seeing the kids at the school, dressed in their clean blue and white uniforms and lining up to kiss the hands of all the adults in the room as they leave, brings a sense of relief to know that education does not only belong to the affluent.