Free school for poor children launched

JAKARTA (JP): A free school for children from poor families was opened on Monday by a non-governmental organization as part of its efforts to help educate teenage school leavers in the city.

The school, jointly funded by the Pelita Ilmu Foundation and a local office of the Ministry of Education and Culture, has places for 40 students between the ages of 13 and 16, and has so far enrolled 31 children from the neighborhood area.

"We want to make this school a qualified one that produces skillful and intelligent students, although they come from poor families," said Firdaus, the headmaster of SMP Persamaan Remaja Masa Depan, after the opening ceremony.

The school employs 15 teachers, most of whom are graduates from the Jakarta Institute of Teacher Training (IKIP) or the University of Indonesia, and offers a curriculum similar to other junior high schools (SMP) in Indonesia.

Besides the compulsory subjects, it also provides vocational training, such as cooking and free English courses during the three-year school period.

Adopting the official curriculum for junior high schools nationwide, the newly launched school does not require its students to wear a uniform. Instead it provides free writing books for the students, most of whom live in shanty huts.

Firdaus pointed out that class begins at 9 a.m. so as to allow students to undertake part-time jobs, such as selling newspapers, in the morning.

Teachers in the school are paid Rp 7,500 (US$1.10) per arrival. Of the Rp 7,500 fee, government's subsidy accounts for only Rp 2,000, excluding free textbooks, while the foundation has to bear all the operation costs.

The 31 students who turned up for Monday's launch looked happy with the opportunity given them. Many of them had good grades in elementary school.

There are 33 other free schools like this in Jakarta but each is run by different organizations and supported by the education ministry's office. The program is meant to reduce the 90,000 children who quit school in the wake of the economic crisis that hit the country in 1997.

The crisis has badly affected the education of many poor children, who can no longer afford to pay school fees. Registration alone may cost up to Rp 375,000, contradicting the government's nine-year basic education program.

The Pelita Ilmu Foundation was established in 1989, focusing at first on community health. For the past few years it has actively provided information about HIV and AIDS to teenagers and the general public.(04)