Children have to leave school to support families

Leo Wahyudi S, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Eki is only 10 years old, but he plays an important role in his family. Along with his brother, Edo, who is two years older, he is the family's breadwinner.

His father was a temporary construction worker and his mother used to wash clothes for their neighbors in Prumpung, East Jakarta. Both are now unemployed. They have eight children, Eki being the sixth. One of the children died, and the others just stay at home.

"I have to support my mom with my daily income," Eki said.

Every day, he and his brother leave home early in the morning and return after the sun has set. Eki brings home some Rp 10,000 from his work, begging along the street, armed with a "musical instrument" made of bottle caps that make tinkling sounds every time he strikes them.

He said he used to go to an elementary school in East Jakarta. But now he has no time to study despite his dream that one day he will be able to continue with his education.

"I left school two months ago," he said, adding that Edo and his other siblings also had to drop out of school.

What is happening to Eki and Edo is the fate of millions of school-age children in the country whose parents can no longer afford their educations. According to data from the Ministry of National Education, in 2000 there were about 960,700 elementary school dropouts and 377,600 others who were forced to drop out of junior high school.

In Jakarta, with a total population of 8.3 million, the number of elementary school students between the ages of 7 and 12 was 801,896 in 2001, according to data from the City Statistic Bureau. The bureau said about 22,928 of these students were at risk of dropping out.

Akiadi, who lives in Prumpung, was eight when he dropped out of the first grade to work as a street beggar. His mother is unemployed and his unemployed father is a drug addict.

"I don't want to go to school. I like it out here with the other street kids," Akiadi said, a moment later running off and climbing a tree to play with his friends.

His aunt, Tumi, who was at the park watching over her four children as they begged for money, complained that Akiadi often forgot he was out here to work.

"He spends most of his time playing," said Tumi.

While Akiadi does not want to go back to school, many other street children dream of continuing their educations.

Asked about their schooling, some of the children in the park near the Jatinegara railway station in East Jakarta wanted to know if The Jakarta Post would help them return to school.

"Do you want to help us go back to school?" asked one of them.

Among the smaller, a slightly older girl, Dina, perhaps best expressed the feelings of the children here, saying that living on the streets was really hard.

"We simply live for our next meal," she said, adding that life was getting even harder because of the City Public Order officers who were always driving them away.

"I personally am jealous of the lucky children who can go to school," she said.

Dina recently had to drop out of junior high school, where she was still in her first year, because her parents passed away.

But driven by determination and a desire to do something better with their lives, Dina and several other children take part in an informal class offered by the Sakinah Foundation every weekend.

"I want to continue my education so I can be something better than a street kid," she said.