In Reply to: School posted by CharlieBaliBear on Monday, 2. August 2010 at 22:03 Bali Time:
though there is a government SD school in munti (Laporan Hasil Belajar Siswa Sekolah Dasar) but without a uniform the kids aren't allowed to attend and add to this school shoes, bag, stationery and workbooks, some kids just can't afford to go. It is such a poor, arid area. The teacher lives in Kubu and some mornings or afternoons doesn't arrive at the school. It is in such an isolated hard area to get to, that didn't really surprise me. In the last 12 months a new school has been built with 3 classrooms and desks which is really encouraging. There isn't a tekar in this area of munti or SMP or SMA. Made, the boy with me in Australia at the moment, went to the village SD up to class 4. He was promised sponsorship of 300,000IDR by a Yayasan (but all he received was one t-shirt which made him very angry!), for schooling so he could keep attending as his parents couldn't continue to afford his books - i guess this is what i mean by not being free, as he was then not able to attend school, as the yayasan didn't distribute the money to assist him. He moved to Kuta to start selling leather straps and 4 months later was when I met him. I paid for his shooling in kuta and he has just completed class 6 at roughly 220,000IDR a month and yes it is quite expensive in the south. He starts SMP in denpasar when i take him back in September at a total cost of 2,800,000 a year. He chose this school as there are many kids from Karangasam, so he doesn't get teased about his dark skin there. I havent yet put up new, current photos on my website from my trip 2 weeks ago - some are of the new school. A kinder I use in Kuta was 905,000 set up fees and 70,000 a month, which is the cheapest I could find and another TK used is 1,500,000 and 110,000 a month. So overall, yes it is quite expensive in the south, cheaper in Munti but out of reach for many families i have communicated with, regards, jan