Mataram celebrates Children’s Day

MATARAM: Hundreds of kindergarten and elementary school students commemorated National Children’s Day in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara, on Saturday.

The commemoration was marked by a procession of local administration officers and children dressed in traditional attire.

Resident Baiq Ida Wahyuni said chose to dress her son in Sasak attire. “It’s quite expensive, but we are happy,” she said.

The event was held amid discouraging reports that poverty takes its heaviest toll on hundreds of thousands of children, who are also deprived of an education.

A 2010 study showed that there were 212,793 “neglected” children in the province of 4.5 million.

“Many parents force their children to earn money,” Bachruddin, the head of local social services agency, said.