Children have to leave school to support families

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.