It was 3 p.m. when Syamsul Arifin, 10, Muhammad Hengki Efendi, 10, and Indra Iswahyudi, 8, arrived at a learning post for street kids next to a crossroad opposite the Dieng Plaza building in downtown Malang,
The music "instruments" they had used to make money as street "musicians" were still in their hands as they joined the other nine street kids to study. Still, they looked very enthusiastic to do their homework under the supervision of activists from the Alliance of Malang Poor Urban Community (AMMM).
"I don't want to sing on the street forever. I want to join the military," said Hengki, a fifth-grader at the state-run SDN V Kotalama elementary school.
Syamsul, his clasmate, and Indra, who is a second-grader at the same school, nodded, showing approval.
"They can sing on the street to make money, but they also have to go to school to study," AMMM coordinator Amrullah said.
Together with some other 15 students of various universities in Malang municipality, AMMM has been providing supervision to street kids as part of its program to help send the kids back to school.
According to Amrullah, who is a student at the Merdeka University's School of Law, 10 sites have been chosen to provide support for Lanag's street kids. They are mostly on the roadside, some are behind a police post. Each site, like the one across the Dieng Plaza, has some 20 kids as "learning club members".
This year alone, up to July, the program has succeeded in sending 500 street kids back to school and expected to have 1,700 kids in total joining the "Street Kids Back To School" program by the year's end.
The alliance, he said, had also planned to launch the "Malang Free from School Drop-Outs" program on July 23, which coincides with the celebration of the National Child Day, and to conduct it until 2013.
He expressed confidence the program would be a success.
"They are very enthusiastic to study but have no one to assist them. Economic difficulties further drags them away from school."
He said 20 percent, or 5,200 children, from 26,000 families in the municipality, were at risk from dropping out of school due to poor economic conditions, forcing them to work to help their parents.
For funding, AMMM relies mainly on donations, of which 60 percent is from the community, 20 percent is from university students and the remaining 20 percent is from the government. Amrullah said the alliance needs Rp 300,000 to send a child back to school. It also provides the kids with school uniforms, school bags, textbooks and stationery.
"The program is very helpful. Thanks to it I can return my three kids to school," said Wiwit, a beneficiary of the program.
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