World Street Children News

Malang street children join students for final school test

National News - June 10, 2006

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Malang

Like other teachers across the country, Eko Munif, 43, was preparing to go to work on the morning of June 5. This was no ordinary Monday. It was a special day, because all elementary school students throughout Indonesia would sit simultaneously for the national final examination.

Eko’s duty was unlike that of other exam supervisors who immediately handed out exam papers to students. Eko and six of the 14 teachers at SD 10 Kedungkandang elementary school in the city of Malang got back on their motorbikes, even though they’d already arrived at school.

"We share the responsibility of bringing in students who have not arrived at school. We have to coax them so that they sit for the exam, so all their efforts haven’t been spent in vain. That would be a pity for them," Eko said.

The teachers’ duty was to cajole street children registered as students of the Special Service Class — an education program provided free to street children in Indonesia — into taking the exam at school.

According to the principal of SD 10 Kedungkandang, S. Sujono, most of the street children are of school age, but seek money on the streets to help their families make ends meet.

Some of them work in the markets. Others help their parents hawk noodles around the village, or scavenge for scraps and beg or busk for money at intersections in Malang.

Eko went to fetch two street children but he was only able to persuade a girl named Wiji Rahayu, 16, who helps her parents at the Malang central market every day. She lives about two kilometers from school.

The teachers were able to bring in 15 of the 17 street children who had registered for the examination. The two remaining children, according to Eko, had already hit the streets to seek money. They were Zaenuri, 15, who usually begs and busks for small change in the area around Malang railway station, and Putri Anggraeni, 15, who works as a trash picker at the Malang central market.

"It’s hard for us to track them down if they have already gone to the streets. We have to fetch them early in the morning before they set off to work," Eko said.

On the first day of the exam, the 15 street children, who blended in with the 78 regular pupils, seemed capable of doing the test.

They were not wearing school uniforms like the others, and looked physically more mature than their peers. They appeared serious when filling in the multiple-choice questions with pencils provided by the school.

They do not differ much from the other students in terms of their ability to absorb lessons. They even scored on a par with regular students in the practice exam given earlier.

"They have a very low threshold for boredom, however. They are easily bored if they are in class for too long. They are not timid in expressing things, perhaps due to their exposure to the streets, so they can give an impression of being rough," said Eko, who is one of three teachers assigned by the school to teach street children.

Sujono remains optimistic that they will be able to follow and absorb every lesson despite their surroundings. He is even confident that all the street children will pass the exam this time, even though the government has raised this year’s passing score to 4.26 points.

Ariyanto, 16, a street kid who is said to have the highest IQ level of the group, promises to continue his studies until junior high school. He aspires to enter military service after graduating from junior high school.

Ariyanto had previously decided to leave school in the third grade because the only thing on his mind was finding money to help his family. He had never thought of continuing his studies, but the eldest of three siblings has changed his mind since meeting Eko. Ariyanto’s only condition for staying in school is that he be allowed to earn money in the morning busking, and attend classes in the afternoon.

"We are not too strict in this matter. The important thing is finding a way to urge them to return to school, and keeping them in school until they graduate," principal Sujono said.

Often the students would skip lessons to earn money. For example, they would go watch a soccer game and later collect plastic containers left behind by the spectators.

According to Sujono, the most difficult task is often making the street kids feel comfortable and at ease in the classroom.

Another challenge faced by teachers, according to Sujono, often comes at the beginning of each school term. That’s when teachers are deployed to the streets to coax street children to continue their studies, at least until they graduate from elementary school.

The school is one of 20 elementary schools in Indonesia which has been assigned by the Directorate of Basic and Secondary Education to conduct programs for street children. There are only two such schools in East Java; the one in Malang and another in Surabaya.

According to Sujono, 15 street children (one student in the 2004-2005 term and 15 in the 2005-2006 term) have graduated from the program, which has been running since 2004. Of the 15 elementary school graduates, 13 have continued their studies.