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)