City to build dorm for street children

JAKARTA: The city administration plans to build a dormitory in Rawabuaya, West Jakarta, for street children, an official said.

The head of psychological services at the City Welfare Agency, Syarifuddin Mahfudz, said the dormitory would be able to house between 600 children and 1,000 children.

"We hope construction of the dormitory will be completed by the end of this year," Mahfudz said.

He said the administration also would pay to send the children to school, the city-owned news portal beritajakarta.com reported on Thursday.

Mahfudz also said the children's parents would be given Rp 500,000 (US$58.80) each in start-up capital for their own home businesses.

Many street children were forced to drop out of school so they could find work to help support their families. -- JP