Where have all the flowers gone?

Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

"My school is about five kilometers away from my house. So I have to wake up very early in the morning to start my day. But I am lucky that my father still allows me to go to school," the 13- year-old Venansius, or better known as Ulus, told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

Ulus, a second year student at public a junior high school (SLTPN 2) in Waingapu, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), said his father, an elementary school teacher working on a contract basis, asked him to concentrate on his study so he could eventually get a good job to help support the family. Previously, when his father was still unemployed, Ulus helped his mother sell cakes around his village.

"Many of my friends could not continue their study, since most of their parents could no longer afford it. I really wish the government would pay more attention to education," he said.

Ulus and about 110 other children are in Jakarta, attending the Children's Gathering 2003, organized by Wahana Visi Indonesia and World Vision, a U.S.-based Christian international relief and development organization, from July 7 through July 12.

The gathering, taking the theme of "We are Indonesian children, please listen to our voices", was organized to coincide with National Children's Day which will fall on July 23.

Ulus continued, "In NTT, where most of the land is arid and rainfall is among the lowest in the country, family incomes are relatively low. Only a few parents there can afford to send their children to school."

Indonesia has around 40 million children aged between seven and 15.

According to the State Minister of Women's Empowerment Affairs, Sri Redjeki Soemaryoto, there are about nine million children across the country who can no longer continue their study for a variety of reasons -- mostly economic, with about 1.6 million known to be exploited and used as child laborers.

Completing basic education is supposed to be every child's right. The government has set up a program of compulsory basic education lasting for nine years, which means children should complete elementary and junior high school.

But in many cases, the program is not even supported, either by proper school facilities or financial conditions.

In several remote regions, the number of teachers is inadequate as compared to the number of students.

Dimenus, a sixth grader from Eruwok, Papua, said there were only two teachers at his school. "There were 12 teachers before, but ten have left back to Java," said the student of SD Inpres Tiom.

Another problem faced by Indonesian children is the lack of freedom to express their thoughts. Most complained that even in their very own families, their thoughts were usually ignored.

"I used to like social sciences, but then my father told me that concentrating on natural sciences would be more useful for my future. So now I am supposed to just forget social sciences and start to apply myself in natural sciences," said Ulus.

Ayu, from Poso, also said that in family discussions she was often asked to keep silent and just had to accept what was decided for her. "In fact, who knows, maybe children have better ideas," she said.

Asked what she expected from the government, Ayu said: "I wish the central government would pay more attention to the local administrations. Let them know about the children's rights, otherwise the implementation will never work as expected," she said.

She said that some regents did not even care about children's rights, even the importance of basic education. "Most of the campaigns on children's rights are held in the big cities and never make it to the remote areas", Ayu said.

Children, at a young age, deserve a happy and cheerful life, including basic education, access to good health services and freedom to express their minds and thoughts in order to foster their creativity, experts said.

In fact, however, violations of children's rights are still happening. According to the minister, about 50,000 children are presently homeless, while 10 million more are malnourished and 70,000 are exploited for commercial sex.

Conflicts and war, such as in Aceh now, also have an adverse impact on children. At this moment, there are about 400,000 child refugees across the country.