School for poor children opened
By Joko E.H. Anwar
JAKARTA (JP): Dozens of children between four and 10 years old gathered under the Gedung Panjang 2 flyover in Penjaringan district, North Jakarta, on Friday morning.
They neatly stood in line while observing the opening ceremony of a new School for Poor People. The school is a 4.5 by 3.5 meter plywood classroom, erected below the flyover. The ceremony also initiated the school activities for the 2000/2001 school period.
Farid R. Faqih, coordinator of the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Guidance for the Poor (Param) that was responsible for building the school, said the class was meant to teach the kids how to read and write and do simple calculations.
"Those will be their basic needs to get out of their current situation," Farid said to reporters after the ceremony.
There are hundreds of people who live under the flyover who mostly earn their living by working as scavengers and operators of bicycle taxis.
Farid said Param had received a Rp 10 million (US$1,125) grant from the Ministry of National Education for the operation of the school.
"We want this school to run smoothly, so we hire people to teach the children with a salary of between Rp 200,000 and Rp 300,000 a month, plus a Rp 5,000 transportation allowance per day," he said, while citing that some of the teachers were recruited from the Teachers' Training Institute (IKIP).
The Gedung Panjang School, the fourth established by Param, will be open from Monday to Friday, starting at 3 p.m.
"It's about the time when the kids get back from their daily activities as scavengers or street singers," Farid said.
Three other similar schools have been built in Pedongkelan subdistrict and in Bunderan subdistrict in North Jakarta, and in Cipete district, South Jakarta.
He said the kids would be charged Rp 1,000 a month to study at the school.
The children's mothers, some of whom were holding their babies, looked enthusiastic about the opening of the school.
"I'm very glad there is such a school here," one of the mothers, Siti, told The Jakarta Post.
"I cannot afford to put Maya into a (proper) school," she said, referring to her nine-year old daughter.
The school was officially inaugurated by director general of elementary and secondary education at the Ministry of National Education Indra Djati Sidi.
"These children have been neglected as the government does not have a systematic program to handle them," Indra said in his opening speech.
He said his office was currently building a network in collaboration with several NGOs which organizes similar schools for children who live in slum areas throughout the capital.
Farid, also coordinator of Government Watch (Gowa), an NGO which observes the government's performance, criticized Governor Sutiyoso's administration for its politically-motivated programs which have been unable to provide a better life for the poor.
"The poor are only respected during the five-yearly general election campaigning when political parties lure them to vote for the parties," he said.
He also blamed the Jakarta administration for targeting street children who make their living from selling or singing on the streets.
"Their trading places are not proper. But the government also has to make real programs to help them earn money," Farid said.
When the class started, 35 children entered the classroom, sat down on plastic sheets and put their arms on the long tables provided for them.
A few minutes later, a teacher told them to sing a popular local children's song, Bintang Kecil (Little Stars).
The students then sang enthusiastically, although the sound of heavy vehicles traveling on the flyover above often drowned out their voices.