Evicted Five Times, Kartini Emergency School in North Jakarta Persists for 36 Years

In the midst of the hustle and bustle of construction projects and the constant flow of container trucks in the Pademangan area, North Jakarta, stands a free school for underprivileged children.

The school is named Kartini Emergency School, founded by twin women, Sri Irianingsih (75) and Sri Rossyati (75), since 1990 to provide educational access for marginalised children.

The school was initiated by the two women known as the “Twin Teacher Mothers”, Sri Irianingsih (75) and Sri Rossyati (75).

Since then, they, along with their family, agreed to establish the school while also providing food for children living on the streets.

Over time, Kartini Emergency School expanded from one location to several sites such as Pluit, Bandengan, Kali Jodo, Kelapa Gading, and even the Senen area.

“At that time, one place was about two hours because it was still basic reading and writing. Usually until night, from morning continuously,” said Sri Rossyati, commonly called Ibu Rossy, to Kompas.com on Tuesday (21/4/2026).

In 1996, the school they initiated had thousands of students.

“One location had 600 children, we had five. (up to) 1,500 we got MURI up to 3,033 students,” said Sri Irianingsih, commonly called Ibu Rian.

However, the long journey was not smooth. The school intended for marginalised children had to relocate several times.

Nevertheless, they continued teaching activities under very limited conditions. Ibu Rian admitted to once setting up emergency tents to accommodate thousands of students.

For the two of them, closing the school was not an option even though pressures kept coming.

Finally, in 2013, Kartini Emergency School, which was almost evicted because it was using PT KAI land, obtained a new land loan. The land in Pademangan then became the location of Kartini Emergency School to this day.

“Then given land by the Chinese person here (Kampung Bandan), but this is state-owned, this is state-owned then given by Pak Jonan,” said Ibu Rian.