Study room set up to help poor kids

JAKARTA (JP): The Nanda Dian Nusantara foundation inaugurated the operation of a study room in the Cilincing slum area in North Jakarta on Thursday with the aim of enabling local children from poor families to attend school.

The inauguration of the wooden structure was marked with the handover of packages of food stuffs by Roostien Ilyas, the chairwoman of the foundation, to 400 families in the area.

Also present at the inauguration ceremony were representatives from Total Indonesie oil company, which had contributed to financially supporting the establishment of the study room.

No details of the cost of the establishment was available, but Roostien said that the funds were borne by both Total Indonesie and other donors.

She explained that through the development of the structure called by locals the "Study Room for Cilincing's Seamen" the children could now get diplomas equivalent to those of graduates of formal elementary and junior high school students.

"We cooperate with the IKIP Jakarta Teachers Training Institute in supporting the substitute examinations," she said, adding that many students from several universities had declared their readiness to be volunteers as teachers in the project.

The 28-square meter structure set up at the edge of the Cilincing River is now used by local drop-out children to continue their learning without having to give up their daily jobs.

The structure is capable of accommodating about 50 children and teenagers to learn certain skills ranging from sewing to wood carving.

"The people here even filled the foundation of the structure with clamshells when they erected it," one of the teachers recalled.

The three-hour classes, which started early this week, begin at 2 p.m. every day to enable the children to work in the morning.

Rohim, the neighborhood chief, said that most of the children in the area helped their parents earn their living as clam shellers, fishermen or sand-carrying laborers.

"Seventy percent of about 2,000 households in my area are unemployed, and the number of children who are unable to continue their education keeps increasing," he said

Drop-out

He said that the drop-out children would prefer to work than go to school.

"The children who had left school for more than two years were given priority in this project. Sometimes they refused to attend the classes, as they preferred to earn their living," he said.

Tias, 14, a graduate from a state-owned elementary school at Kosambi in Tanjung Priok, said that she had attended the class since Tuesday.

"I have no idea as to what I am going to be in the future," said. Tias, 14, worked as a prawn sheller.

Imannuel, 14, said that he had just visited the class on Thursday when he heard news of the food distribution.

"I dropped out from the first year of junior high school last year, because I used to play truant," he said.

Imannuel, who works as a minivan driver's assistant, said that he would continue his education to fulfill his wish of attending technical high school and of becoming a policeman.

Rohim, who was dismissed two months ago from his former job as the heavy equipment operator of a contractor, hoped that any people who sympathized with the poor would provide job opportunities rather than donating food staples.

"I hope that the residents here not only receive contributions, but can also be financially independent," he said. (ivy)