Lack of funds hurts outreach to street kids

TANGERANG (JP): Fund constraints prevent Tangerang regency from assisting the vast majority of children panhandling on local streets, a leading social services official admitted on Friday.

Just 50 of the 535 street children registered with the office could undergo rehabilitation programs annually, chief of the regency's social service office Teddy Djarkasih said.

The number of the children is increasing as the economic crisis persists, he added. They eke out a living by singing at traffic lights, selling newspapers or working as shoeshine kids at restaurants or bus terminals.

"We don't have new data on the street children who range in age from seven to 21 years. Their mobility is very high," he said.

According to the office's data, 175 of the registered children had studied at elementary school, 35 in junior high school and four in high school.

The remaining 321 have never received any formal education.

Teddy said the 50 children involved in his office's rehabilitation program participated in training courses for informal sector jobs, such as selling merchandise and learning how to repair motorcycles.

"The training course on how to conduct business is held in Balaraja, while the one on motorcycle repair in Sepatan."

Balaraja trainees receive T-shirts and a stipend from the West Java provincial budget to start them off in business. Sepatan program participants are provided with tool kits.

"Six trainees have worked at motorcycle repair shops in the city," he said.

Putting the street children on the straight and narrow despite funding problems is also faced by Hapid Effendi, head of the Tangerang mayoralty, which is located closer to the boundary with Jakarta.

Hapid said the most recent data at his office put the number of street children at 206, although the actual number is probably much greater.

He said his office was conducting another count but "their mobility is so high because most of them are newcomers from other cities".

Due to funding limitations, only 10 street children are involved in the social service office's rehabilitation program.

Both Hapid and Teddy said they were unaware of the total funding provided to help the children because it was provided by the central government.

"I don't know the amount of funds because my job is just following instructions set by the central government," Teddy said.

The two officials expressed concern over the lack of authority invested in the offices to directly handle their programs for street children.

In line with the rising demand for more bureaucratic autonomy from the central government, they believed it time to entrust the management of such programs to the regional administrations.

Areas identified as having large numbers of street children are located near new business centers and include Pamulang, Serpong, Balaraja and Cikupa. (41/hhr)