Street children ignored by education program

Street children ignored by education program

JAKARTA (JP): Seven-year-old Heri roams the alleys of the
Ramayana shopping complex in Jatinegara, East Jakarta, for scraps
discarded by local restaurants.

"What's important is that I eat," he said. "My parents? I
don't remember them."

Two years ago, Heri became the youngest member of a group of
street children who sleep, work and earn their livings in
Jatinegara. They survive by busking, shining shoes, carrying
shopper's bags or by scavenging. As the smallest member of the
gang, Heri's job is to beg from shoppers and passers-by.

The older members of the gang, such as Febri, Dadang and Doel,
make between Rp 2,000 (US$.85) and Rp 5.000 a day. They spend
most of their money, needed for food and clothing, on computer
games in the arcade in the shopping complex.

The children are busy, but they said they sometimes wished to
go to school.

Senior researcher Mely G. Tan at the Indonesian Institute of
Sciences said that children, such as Heri and his friends, need
education.

The success of the government's six and nine year compulsory
education programs throughout the country deserve applause, she
said, but they have let people forget there are street children
who still don't have access to proper education.

"It's such an ambitious program, making all children between
seven and 15 years attend school," she said. "If it's such a
success, then how come we still see children roaming parks and
the streets?"

She also mentioned the children who worked as "jockeys" to
fill vehicles passing through Jakarta's "three-in-one" areas:
"Aren't they supposed to be in school?"

President Soeharto launched the Nine Year Compulsory Education
Program in 1994. It requires children to attend six years of
primary school and three years of junior high school.

The scheme was an extension of the highly lauded six year
compulsory education program which was launched in 1984. Now 94
percent of all children aged between seven and 12 years attend
school.

Official data for 1995 showed that 26.5 out of one million
children aged from seven to 12 years could not attend school.

Mely admitted that not all street children were willing to go
to school. "But we'll just have to assume that they are willing
to learn and we must never ignore them," she said.

She suggested that the government involve more non-government
organizations' (NGOs) activists and social workers to approach
street children to give them education.

"Those children will take just one look at the dispatched
government officials and they will scurry away," Mely said. "They
need people that they can trust."

Promises

I.B. Edi Karyanto of the Jakarta Social Institute, a NGO
actively helping street children, said the children would accept
people who were really concerned about them and their education.

"They don't want people who just make promises and give them
food while cameramen and photographers are around taking pictures
of them," he said.

"Please remember, street children are different from any other
group of children," Edi said. "They have a certain subculture
that guides their conduct. It's impossible to expect them to
submit to our values or standards just like that."

Many street children in urban centers such as Jakarta live
around river banks and waste dumps. Many of them suffer various
abuses and have to endure frequent raids and arrest by city
officials who beat them and label them criminals.

Wuryanto, a member of the House of Representatives' Commission
IX on education affairs, criticized the government for its
sluggish attempt to help street children.

"The government must set up concrete plans of action on
special education for street children," he said.

Subculture

Educator Annah Suhaenah Suparno agreed, saying that education
for street children should be designed to fit their conditions
and interests.

"Forcing street children to attend schools would be fruitless
because they have become accustomed to their own subculture, and
because they have proved they can survive in a tough world,"
Annah, rector of the Jakarta Teacher Training Institute, told The
Jakarta Post on Saturday.

Education programs for street children should be equivalent to
elementary school curriculum, but prepared in a different way.
"It is not necessary for the children to go to schools to get
education. The tutors who should go to them, instead," Annah
said.

Makmur Sanusi, a national consultant at the Ministry of Social
Services, which collaborates with the United Nations Development
Program project on street children, said that several plans had
been drawn to help street children.

For instance, tutors would befriend the children before
introducing them to activities which would hopefully raise the
children's awareness about health and society.

Academic knowledge would be given as secondary information,
instead of being the main focus, he said, adding that he expected
this plan would start soon.

The United Nations Children's Fund classifies street children
into three categories.

Category one covers children on the streets who have
completely abandoned their homes, families and schools, and stay
on the streets for more than nine hours a day. This year's
official data indicates that 15 percent of Indonesia's children
who roam the streets fall into this category.

Category two covers children on the streets who remain
connected to their families, but abandon school and stay on the
streets less than nine hours a day; 35 percent of Indonesia's
children on the streets fall into this category.

Category three covers those who are at a high risk of becoming
street children, who live with their parents, attend school and
stay on the streets for about four hours a day; 50 percent fall
into this category. (31/swe)