Kids selling Kijangs

Kids selling Kijangs

From Jayakarta

After a crash course in dancing at the Pangudi Luhur school, our child was asked to perform at Auto 2000 on Jl. Radio Dalam in South Jakarta. Parents were only told that the event was meant as a tryout before a real show scheduled for December.

But what actually took place at Auto 2000 was a promotion campaign for Kijangs. There were several contests -- singing, drawing and ballet. We were forced to listen to innocent children sing the Kijang hymn over and over. Some of them cried as soon as they got on stage. It was a really horrible scene.

The performance did not start on time and there was no snack provided for the children, although by 11:00 a.m children normally begin to feel hungry. No souvenirs were presented to the participating children. Even more saddening was that the crayon (costing only about Rp 750) for the drawing contest had to be returned, despite the fact parents had to pay a Rp 3,500 participation fee.

The headmaster should have known that it was nothing but a promotion done by a conglomerate which exploited innocent children. Don't be deceived by such a business promotion strategy.

The Parents-Teachers Association must be reminded of the need to be critical of anything detrimental to learning and teaching.

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