Informal school dedicated to children of the impoverished

Leo Wahyudi S, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

With plastic bags in their hands two shoe-shine boys starred at groups of people entering the theater in the Taman Ismail Marzuki arts center in Central Jakarta hoping that some of the cinema-goers would ask them to polish their shoes.

After realizing that there were no customers they finally sat on the floor, leaning against the wall.

One of them responded when The Jakarta Post approached them. Petak, 19, left his hometown of Medan, North Sumatra, for unclear reasons more than one year ago.

"I haven't had any money in my hands all day," Petak complained, looking at Adnan, a fellow shoe-shine boy, who is just 13 years old.

The conversation ended abruptly when Petak and Adnan said they had to go to school.

"We have a computer class at 2 p.m.," said Petak.

Surprised, the Post followed the two "students", wondering what kind of school they were attending.

They walked straight to a building under the shade of big tree close to the entrance of the arts center.

A white but dirty banner reading: School for Street Children, was stretched in front of the building.

A long oval table occupied the middle of the spacious room which resembled a meeting room.

Seven personal computers were seen on desks in the neighboring room, separated by a two-meter high plywood partition.

Among the people gathered in the room was Firdaus Rasyid, the coordinator of non-governmental organization Era Aku that manages the school.

"Like other children, street children are actually potential students. It is unfortunate they lack the opportunity to express and develop their ability," said Firdaus.

Firdaus said that most of the 51 students -- ranging from six to 19 years old -- were from low income families living in nearby slums.

"Many of the children are shoe-shine boys and parking attendants, whose parents are unemployed. So there are no tuition fees for the students", he said.

Through the school, Era Aku aims to help the shoe-shine boys, parking attendants and even beggars equip themselves with an education, which will hopefully be useful for their future. "After 15 years of working as shoe-shine boys or parking attendants they usually become thugs, who extort money from drivers or commit other street crimes," Firdaus said.

Classes normally run from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily from Monday to Saturday with five different groups of students.

"The subjects they learn include religion and moral teachings, English, Dutch, and computer," said Firdaus.

According to Firdaus, who is a graphic designer, most of the students are enthusiastic about the classes, despite the fact that many of them (around 29 percent) are students of formal schools.

Asked what made him interested to join the school apart from the fact that he never paid anything, Petak said that the computer lessons attracted him very much. "But I also like the arts, including music and song writing."

Underlining Petak's statement, Firdaus said that many students showed great interest in the arts, including poetry writing, reading, drawing and playing music.

Era Aku has to cover its monthly expenses of about Rp 2 million for teaching materials, telephone and electricity bills.

"Luckily we don't pay a single rupiah for the building. We use the building for free," he said. The defunct building belongs to Arief Rahman Hakim Force, a youth wing of the 1966 Exponent, a powerful organization, which played a significant role in toppling President Sukarno in 1966.

The big question is how Era Aku supports itself as the students do not pay fees to join the classes.

"At the moment, the money comes from my own pocket and from the donors," Firdaus said, adding that he planned to build a network to raise funds to develop the school."

"We have some 15 volunteers, who have devoted their time to the organization by teaching the students for free and giving something worthwhile to the street children," he said.

The volunteers are mostly teachers and university students, who together opened the school in March this year.

Suparjo, one of the volunteers who is a computer instructor, said that he was concerned about the education of destitute children.

"Only education can help improve the quality of life for street children."