january-2010

starkids
Surabaya
in East Java,
Indonesia, is a
crowded urban area, second only to Jakarta
in population. In many parts of the city,
unemployment is high and living conditions
are generally poor. Here, as in any modern
city, there are people who are faced with
some tough decisions on a daily basis, in
order to survive or make ends meet.
It’s not the fi rst place you’d expect to
hear of a successful schooling program for
the local children. But that’s just what has
happened here, with the help of Jetstar’s
StarKids program. An education project,
piloted by World Vision and rolled out to 12
regions of Surabaya through StarKids, has
helped to bring joy back to classrooms, while
supporting children from disadvantaged
areas to change their lives.
A study of schools throughout Surabaya
before the project began showed that the
78 JANUARY 2010
poorest and most marginalised
families were being affected by
the poor quality of educational
programs in those areas. Many of
these were migrant populations,
left behind by the city’s growth
and prosperity, living in highly
crowded urban areas where
unemployment is high, living
conditions are poor, and many
children and adults are pushed
into lives of hazardous labour,
prostitution and crime.
Many students from the region
were enrolled in school, but drop-out
rates were high: higher than the national
average. Students were taught mostly
by repetition of information. Financially,
many parents couldn’t participate in their
children’s school life, or thought there was
little point when schools lacked quality
StarKids’ support of SEEP has
helped children in Surabaya’s
disadvantaged areas with better
opportunities for life and learning
BELOW: Supervisor Moenisha
(right) has seen many positive
changes in the disadvantaged
schools she oversees
Active, joyful and effective:
a school’s success helps
a community grow
WORDS WORLD VISION
educational programs and qualifi ed teachers.
Existing school committees were at a loss to
understand how they could involve families
in the school communities. Teachers in these
regions had few qualifi cations and little
or no opportunity for ongoing training or
professional development.