Dengarkan

According to the latest national census, there are more than 1 million children in Jakarta who don’t have access to primary school. They mostly come from poor families... earning less than 1 US dollar a day.

A school in Jakarta is offering hope for these children by offering low priced but international-standard education.

Children are playing in front of their school – a 5-bedroom house with a broken front door and graffitti on the wall.

There’s a strong element of Christian at school here... it’s also funded by one Christian education foundation.

Samuel Lambok Nainggolan is the founder of this Sekolah Harapan Bagi Bangsa – or Hope for the Nation School. It’s a school for poor children .. but uses an international curriculum.

“By using the Cambridge curriculum, we can see that the children are learning fast. They don’t memorize text books, but they’re learning by doing. So they can absorb the lessons faster.”

The school has been using this UK-based system for the past four years. The class are taught in English... with English text books and English-speaking teachers. They also have free internet access from the two available computers inside.

School principal Rosliana Saragih says they’re using lots of educational tools to support the learning process.

“We’re using anything available around us,” she explains.

“When we learn about plants, we go out from class and learn from the plants around the school.. about its roots, leaves, fruits and many things. Children can absorb the lesson much faster... oh this is how the roots look like, the fruits, etc. We can also learn English at the same time. So we’re using everything around us.”

There’s a growing number of international schools in Indonesia using international curriculums including the Cambridge one... but usually parents have to pay a HIGH price for it. But here, parents only need to pay 3 US dollars a month.

“We photocopied all the text-books used here. It will be too expensive to buy the original books,” says teacher Dora Kristina telling me one of the school’s tricks. to keep the cost down.

ALSO READ: Indonesia 'Unofficial' Children Struggling For A Future 

The school is located in Pulo Gebang, one of Jakarta’s slum areas. Most of the people here work in informal areas... scavenger, street singer, or driver.

One of the students is 9-year-old Tracy. She picks up and sell trash after school hour.

“I collect waste at 1pm after school finishes. After that I eat lunch at home, take a bath and do my homework.”

34-year-old Riatamina is Tracy’s mother.

“She’s so much clever now after studying here. She has good grades at school. She was the best student in the kindergarten and she continues being the best now on her 2nd grade. I’m so proud of her.”

Officially state primary schools are free for everyone in Indonesia. But poor people complain that there are always hidden fees and the quality of the education is poor. 

School founder Samuel says, they want to give hope to poor families in the area.

“Many children here don’t go to school. It’s a poor area here and nobody wants to help the situation. How can these kids go to school then?”

Tracy is ready to pick up garbage after school hour.. she wants to become a doctor in the future.