Padang street children increase

Padang street children increase

PADANG, West Sumatra: Over the past six months, there have
been more street children here, an official said on Tuesday.

Head of the Welfare Bureau of Ministry of Social Affairs
Rahmad Kusnadi, said the recent survey conducted by his office
together with a local private group recorded the number of street
children reached 1,832.

"Of the total, 362 are girls," he said. Most of them were
working as shoe-shiners, scavengers and beggars, he said.

Rahmad also said that the survey had also found that some of
the children were earning money as sex workers. He put the figure
at 0.2 percent of the total street children.

The prolonged economic crisis has led parents to let their
children work the streets, Rahmat added. (28)