Youth losing interest in scout movement

Youth losing interest in scout movement

By Ivy Susanti

JAKARTA (JP): Pramuka, the Indonesian Scout Movement, marks
its 36th anniversary today amid concerns among its leaders that
the nation's youngsters, particularly those in urban centers, are
abandoning the movement for more exciting activities.

Fewer and fewer senior high school students are willing to
join Pramuka nowadays for reasons that baffle even its leaders.

"I can't read the trend of what today's senior high school
students want," chairman Himawan Soetanto said in an interview.

One thing for sure is that students are opting for alternative
extracurricular activities at their senior high schools.
Mountaineering and hiking are the two most popular outdoor
activities they go for.

Most avoid Pramuka, which also involves outdoor activities, if
they can. This has prompted at least one senior high school in
Jakarta to make it compulsory for all first year students to
join, at the risk of making them loath it even more.

Himawan, a retired Army lieutenant general, said alternative
activities appear to be more attractive.

"Through introspection, we learn that Pramuka's education and
training programs are not attractive to young people," he said,
adding: "Pramuka is still not seen as a forum that accommodates
the needs of the young."

But change is on the way.

The leadership is currently gathering information from all
units throughout the nation. "The issue will be discussed at the
national congress next year," he said.

Himawan said, however, that the declining interest in Pramuka
among teenagers was a trend found only in Jakarta and big cities.
"In villages, the young are still enthusiastic," he said.

He admitted that a lack of activities for senior high school
students in Jakarta was partly to blame for the increasing
student brawls in the capital.

Pramuka, with its emphasis on education through outdoor
activities, could be the remedy, he said. "If those brawling kids
in Jakarta could go to open fields more often, then it could open
their eyes," he said.

Pramuka, short for the Sanskrit words Praja Muda Karana,
boasts 22 million members, or more than 10 percent of the
country's population.

Some 90 percent are aged between seven and 25, and the rest
are senior members. It counts President Soeharto among its
patrons; the late first lady Mrs. Tien Soeharto was particularly
noted for her strong support of Pramuka.

The movement's chief objective is to develop the physics and
characters of young Indonesians, to instill strong discipline and
teach them responsibility in the national building process.

Pramuka divides its members according to age: seven to 10 year
olds are cubs or brownies; 11 to 15 year olds are scouts; 16 to
20 year olds are rovers or rangers, and 21 to 25 year olds are
senior rovers or senior rangers.

Himawan, who ends his five-year term next year, said he had
drawn up a strategic plan to take the movement into the next
millennium.

A new five-year program would begin next year which he said
would transform the image of Pramuka.

It would still be oriented toward youth's needs, but it would
also prepare members to face the increasing global competition in
economics, science and technology, he said.