School for poor children opened
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.