Street kids underfunded

Street kids underfunded

SAMARINDA, East Kalimantan: The government could only provide
help to 18,000 street children, or 45 percent of the country's
reported 40,000 street urchins, due to a shortage of funds
allocated for the scheme, an official said here on Thursday.

The visiting secretary-general of the Ministry of Social
Services, Moerwanto, said the limited funds available forced the
government to carry out the nurturing program in stages.

"It's totally dependent on the funds available," he said after
opening a provincial technical consultation meeting for the
ministry.

The street urchins must be patiently dealt with "because
they're used to a life without any discipline", Antara quoted
Moerwanto as saying.

Social workers assigned to handle street urchins "are often
handicapped by 'human rights' principles, because they may be
accused of imposing restrictions on the children's lives", he
said.

"This is particularly true when the social workers conduct
raids that are actually intended to catch street children so that
they can be educated for a better life," the official said.