Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Banten
Aslimah, 36, usually spends 10 hours a day sitting at a Tangerang intersection, braving scorching sun, stale air and exhaust fumes for money from passing motorists.
Begging is her last resort. She says she has tried numerous times to apply for work as a domestic helper.
But every employer turned her down, not only because she was a former leper, but also because she was illiterate.
"Usually, people asked me if I could read because they didn't want illiterate people working in their houses," she said.
"I wasn't told that here employers would have asked me to shop at the supermarket. How could I read the labels?" said Aslimah, who lives near the Sitanala Leprosy Hospital in Neglasari, Tangerang.
Her husband, also a former leper, never attended school and now scavengers garbage for a living.Aslimah's two children -- Menil, 7 and Inah, 2 -- are brought to the roadside each day to learn to beg from their mother.
Education is a distant possibility for them.Aslimah is one of 12.8 million illiterate people living in the country.In Banten alone, there are 305,677 illiterates out of a population of 8.6 million.
The illiterate are on average between the productive ages of 15 and 44 years.
Although the Constitution states that the government is responsible for providing basic education, it is community and non-government groups that have stepped into the breach to eradicate illiteracy.
The Islamic Women's Council is one such NGO.The council chairwoman Kamsinah Chaniago said her group had established 52 groups in Banten province to coordinate basic writing and reading courses.
"Each group caters for at least ten illiterate people to be taught to read and write and we hope that 520 illiterates who join the program can (learn to) read and write this year," she said during a recent visit to a group in Aweh village, Lebak regency.
Villager Suryati, 40, who has joined the learning group said she was now able to count and read the newspaper and fill in her son's school registration form.
"I have followed the program for six months and I am very grateful for this learning group because I no longer feel inferior to other people in the village," she said.
On a national scale, the government's illiteracy eradication programs have been set the ambitious target of eliminating illiteracy by 2009.
"To carry out such programs, the government has allocated a budget of trillions and Rp 46 billion will go to Banten this year," said Untung, the head of literacy education at the National Education Ministry, while visiting Lebak on June 25.
He said the government had increased the budget allocation for each literacy education class from Rp 3 million in 2006 to Rp 3.5 million this year.
Each class teaches at least 10 people.Such an amount is barely sufficient to cover the average of three sessions a week that the NGOs and volunteers provide.
"I have not been paid a single penny since I started teaching Kejar Paket A for street children here," said 26-year old Mi'ing, a volunteer at the Anak Langit Learning Community.
The Kejar Paket A class is a program designed for school drop-outs to complete their basic education."Since 2003, I have taught more than 300 street children and former lepers' children who had never attended school," he said.
The Anak Langit Learning Community receives Rp 8 million in financial assistance from the Banten provincial administration each year.Nine-year-old Yani, 9, one Anak Langit student, said Mi'ing's creative teaching style meant classes were not boring.
"He took us to shopping malls and bus stations to practice learning words from banners, billboards and buses.
I enjoyed that and have so much more to see now," said Yani, who lives with his parents on a pushcart used for collecting garbage.Yani added that dreamed of getting a job someday other than picking through garbage. (July 26, 2007)
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