[Kabar-indonesia] Indonesia to send 800, 000 street kids to school in US$6.4b program

[JoyoNews at aol.com]

The Jakarta Post
Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Govt to send street kids to school 

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government is initiating a program to send some 800,000 street children 
to school. Their parents, if they also live on the street, will be trained for 
work abroad 
or in other areas of the country.

The program will be jointly conducted by Manpower and Transmigration Minister 
Erman Suparno and Social Affairs Minister Bachtiar Chamsyah. 

Erman said children living on the streets would sent to pesantren (Islamic 
boarding schools) and open high schools at the government's expense, while 
adults would 
be trained to join labor export training programs or resettlement programs. 

"This is a new program that will start in January with the hope that there 
will be no more beggars and street singers at the traffic lights and in public 
buses in major cities," Erman told The Jakarta Post here over the weekend. 

He said the government had allocated Rp 59 trillion (about US$6.4 billion) 
this year for effort. 

He explained that street children aged seven to 18 would be sent to pesantren 
for elementary and secondary education before attending vocational programs 
at government-run training centers. 

"They will receive monthly cash aid to meet their daily needs while they 
study at the pesantren or open schools. After completing high school, they will 
undergo vocational training to ready them to work overseas or join the 
resettlement program," he said. 

Erman said street singers who had already graduated from high school would be 
trained for overseas employment, and couples living on the streets would join 
the transmigration program. 

"Working abroad, they are expected to earn at least Rp 1.5 million to Rp 2 
million a month. Those joining the transmigration program will be resettled on 
sparsely inhabited islands across the archipelago," he said. He added that many 
impoverished parents have forced their children to beg on the streets to 
survive. 

Marudin Simanihuruk, the director general for labor inspection at the 
Manpower and Transmigration Ministry, said he was still building a complete database 
on street children and street singers in major cities as well as on Islamic 
schools willing to participate. 

"This program is part of the national movement to eliminate child labor and 
alleviate poverty," he said. 

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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