Indonesian Schooling, when the Poors are Expendable

An evening with a neighbor on a coffee shop on the side walk of one of town's blocks, where commuters do not recognize one to another. She was talking about a mother of a child planning to go to school when the dinner was being prepared. The boy was planned to attend a secondary school for the new academic year, 2011/2012.

A sad story written down in the sky, ruining my dinning time. She told me that the mother, a poor mother living nextdoor, had a bitter morning at the school registration desk. She could not afford the school's uniform. The school's administrators asked the desk service staff not to allow discounted or allowance fee to anybody. The neighbor, who accompanied the mother to the school, told that the mother complained about the skyscrapping cost issued for the uniform. The mother is a part-time worker with no husband. She has been a single mother since the husband left the family couple years ago. The mother raises her son alone. A 500-thousand fee policy for the uniform is just, unaffordable. It is a perhaps small money for some of you, dear readers. If you think that the mother does not work for it, you are probably the meannest creatures that God has ever created. Yes, she works for it but all her bests do not seem quite good enough.

Education for All seems no more than a campaign on paper as the policy, which angelically shouts "pro-poor". In fact, the poors remain expendable. Millennium Development  Goals' dream remains a dream, which acts as a fake agitator as well as political vehicle for those holding self-interests. The initiative, whose one of its priorities is doing things for the poors, is likely a political-driven activitiy, by which the status quo earns their benefits.

Ashoe Kabeh!!