Govt to launch national foster parent drive

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto is to launch a national foster-parents drive on May 29 to generate more funds from the public to send some six million poor children to school.

Minister of Social Services Inten Soeweno told a press conference yesterday that the drive is intended to raise public awareness about the education needs of children, especially those who are disabled, live in remote areas or are simply too poor to go to school.

She said the government expects to reach its target of sending all children to school through the nine-year compulsory education program within the next 15 years.

If people are willing to help send children to school through the foster-parent drive, however, the target should be achieved much sooner, she said.

The government has established the National Foster Parents Drive Committee to organize the campaign. Any individual who wishes to become a "foster parent" is required to donate at least Rp 60,000 (US$25.6) a year through the committee's savings account, No. 31.51.17845 at Bank Rakyat Indonesia.

The committee, which will establish branches throughout the country, will use the donated money to provide the children with either school uniforms, school supplies or tuition fees.

"This drive is not intended to take over the role and obligations of the parents. Instead, this is to help ease poor parents' burden," she said.

Inten said that of the six million children between the ages of seven to 15 who cannot afford education, 400,000 should be given priority because they are in dire poverty or because their ages will soon exceed the primary school ages.

As of December last year, the social services ministry has sent a total of 140,000 of the 400,000 children to schools.

Ministry of Education and Culture data reveals that about 1.2 million children of elementary school ages could not go to junior high schools last year.

"Most of them are too poor to continue their education," Minister of Education and Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro said yesterday.

The foster-parents drive committee, chaired by President Soeharto's daughter-in-law Halimah Bambang Trihatmodjo, consists of government officials and community leaders.

"I guarantee the fund will be managed in a transparent manner. There will be clear records as to how much the committee receives from the community and how much it distributes to the children," Inten said.

Elementary schools students picked in the drive will each receive Rp 60,000 (US$25.6) a year, while junior high school students will receive Rp 90,000. (31)