Indonesia’s present 3% increase in annual urbanization rate and rapid pace of rural-to-urban in-migration has accompanied the expansion of urban poverty. Currently, Indonesia’s 22% of the population (29 million) are living in urban slums alongside train tracks, riverbanks, and canals that are often flood-prone (Burger et al., 2019; Kusumaningrum et al., 2021). Importantly, the 29 million urban poor populations include the children living in Jakarta slums who I have encountered and taught every school recess since 2016. I have had a keen passion for ensuring quality and equal learning opportunities for those children, and thanks to the generous support of the Sigur Center for Asian Studies, I could have an opportunity to return to Jakarta and meet with the children again this summer. Over one month of staying there, I conducted interviews with children to understand their experiences in education at an NGO learning center while providing them with basic Korean language lessons.
Every visit to Jakarta always brought me with new insights. However, this summer research trip was particularly special and unforgettable as I had a chance to visit my students’ houses thanks to their parents’ invitation and listen to the stories of volunteer teachers who used to be on the streets. Both home visits and teachers’ stories reaffirmed to me that urban slum children are not deprived in terms of lack of educational opportunities and are not social malice. In contrast to the predominant deficit view, the children are supported to learn and have high motivation to pursue higher education.
Visiting students’ homes: Kontrakan & under the overpass
After walking the windy and narrow streets surrounded by small warungs (family-owned street stalls) and going through the hustle-and-bustle traffic noise, two NGO teachers and I finally reached one of my students’ houses. It was quite challenging to find the place since the house was unseen from the main road. We had to walk deep inside a small alley behind warteg (food stall). My student’s parents warmly welcomed us to come inside the house. The house was kontrakan, a honeycomb-like rental house where residents (often family groups) rent each room of the small house on a monthly or a yearly basis, which was a typical way of living among my students studying at the NGO learning center. I sat down in the shared living room with the parents and NGO teachers, and we spoke about our student’s learning conditions. During our conversation, from sensing our presence, one child after another child woke up in the rooms and came out to the living room where we were.
Figure 1. The narrow alley attached to the main road had to be passed to reach kontrakan.
We then visited another student’s house. After taking an angkot (mini-van-like shared taxis) and crossing the road where cars were running, we reached an overpass. When we walked deeper and further under the overpass, we encountered a small community. Houses were built with wooden boards, and adults and children were sorting the piles of pet plastic bottles that they collected into sacks. Chickens and cats were wandering around them. Noticing our visit, children (including our students) walked towards us for salim (hand-kissing to show respect to the elders) and Mrs. Putri, one of the student’s mothers, invited us to her house. The house was self-made by her husband with wooden boards, and the rectangular space was practically equipped with a kitchen and drawer at each corner. Mrs. Putri then showed us around the house, including the self-made well where she does her laundry with neighbors.
Figure 2. There was a community under the overpass living in self-made houses.
Figure 3. Mrs. Putri guided me and the NGO teachers to the well where she does her laundry.
The two formats of houses were typical living spaces of my students as their parents mostly work as ngamen (street singers), pedagang asongan (street vendors), drivers, construction laborers, and more earning meager income. While economic hardships, limited physical living spaces, and housing insecurities might be the facets that I could understand, what was the most inspiring to me was the neighborhood’s close interactions and mutual care of children. In both houses (i.e., kontrakan and under the overpass) and during our conversations with students’ parents, neighbors were looking after children by feeding them, checking children if they attended schools/learning centers, and joining our conversations with parents with the interest in discussing children’s well-being. From seeing the interactions, I understood that such supportive neighborhoods have enabled children to continue attending the NGO learning center, keep up with their academic motivation, and gain socio-emotional skills.
Respecting volunteer teachers as role models: Towards advanced education
In addition to the neighborhoods’ contribution to fostering a positive environment for children’s education, the stories of volunteer teachers and the teachers’ interactions with children further boosted children’s motivation for coming to the learning center. At the NGO learning center, three teachers were especially respected by students for their “successful stories” and their close interactions with students. Through the one-on-one conversations I had with the three teachers, I realized how crucial their presence at the learning center for the students. Those three teachers had commonalities in that they used to live on the streets and study at the learning center, and now they teach as volunteer teachers after graduating from high school.
The current head coordinator of the NGO learning center, Teacher Bintang used to help his parents earn extra income by playing a small guitar on the streets and bagging money since he was very young. He however gradually stopped street life after starting to attend the learning center since he was in second grade in primary school. He said that the learning at the center which he began at the suggestion of an NGO teacher, whom he met on the streets, changed him to understand the direction in life and motivated him to complete his high school education. Another teacher, Teacher Indah, who currently works as an accountant at an IT company even completed her high school and university education with the scholarships granted by the learning center. Teacher Arief who is now employed after graduating high school is still living in the kontrakan adjacent to some students’ houses, giving much care and attention and listening to everyone’s concerns like a big brother.
The three teachers have shared reasons motivating them to volunteer to teach every weekend. They hoped for children in slums (1) to have equal learning opportunities and happiness as their non-slum peers; (2) to live off from streets by pursuing higher education; and (3) to receive love and attention that they may lack from their busy parents. The teachers’ hopes indeed have been reflected and conveyed through their teaching and interactions with students at the center. According to students, they have increased academic motivation and willingness to attend the center by acknowledging their teachers’ caring words and considering the teachers as respectable role models whom they hope to emulate.
Conclusion: Key takeaway
Visiting students’ homes enabled me to better understand my students’ economically difficult situations. However, a more important understanding I gained was that such situations neither limit students’ learning nor justify their marginalization which is often a dominant view towards children in urban slums. Instead, urban slum neighborhoods’ collected care has been a protective factor supporting children’s socio-emotional and academic learning. Furthermore, the interactions that volunteer teachers have with students have been additional enablers for students, who see the teachers as their role models, to recognize their own possibilities of earning jobs outside the streets and pursuing higher education. Therefore, the important lesson of this research trip was clear: Jakarta slums were not a place of marginalization that needs help, but it is the place where children access learning opportunities and care, and ultimately find motivation for learning and the direction of life.
Note. I used pseudonyms for all names in this blog post to protect their anonymity.
References
Burger, N., Glick, P. J., Perez-Arce, F., Rabinovich, L., Rana, Y. R. L., Srinivasan, S., & Yoong, J. (2013). Indonesia: Urban poverty and program review. World Bank Group. https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/263151468275080963/indonesia-urban-poverty-analysis-and-program-review
Kusumaningrum, S., Siagian, C., Sari, W. L., Adhi, A. A., Wandasari, W., Febrianto, R., & Tieken, S. (2021). The situation of children and young people in Indonesian cities. Pusat Kajian dan Advokasi Perlindungan dan Kualitas Hidup Anak Universitas Indonesia (PUSKAPA), United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, & Badan Perencanaan Pembangunan Nasional (BAPPENAS). https://www.unicef.org/indonesia/media/12166/file/The%20Situation%20Analysis%20of%20Children%20and%20Young%20People%20in%20Indonesian%20Cities.pdf
By InJung Cho, Sigur Center Summer 2023 Field Research Grant Fellow. Cho is a Ph.D. student in Education at George Washington University. Cho researches educational inequality and learner identity of children in urban slums of Jakarta, Indonesia.
