Dayah Babulilmi: Out of 12, only 4 go to formal school

Picture: Nurhayati (18 years old), Yusniati (14 years old), Nurazizah (13 years old), Zarnati (22 years old), Megasatrika (14 years old) and Ina Nasution, Hope 4 Our Children.



Ideally, the students who live in this Dayah go to this public school, and in the afternoon, they study religion and Quranic study at Dayah. Because of lack of money, some of these children cannot afford going to local public schools.

I spoke with ten girls at the dorm. I met Nurhayati (18 years old), Yusniati (14 years old), Nurazizah (13 years old), Zarnati (22 years old), Megasatrika (14 years old), Rafika (15 years old), Nurbaiti (15 years old), Zuhrati (13 years old), Nina Dewi (14 years old), Sarwana (13 years old), Nur Eni (18 years old) and Dewi Fatma (15 years old).

Out of these 12 girls, only four girls go to school. I asked them why. Their reply was "we have no money to go to school". There are public schools (Elementary school and Junior High School) about 1 mile away from Dayah Babulilmi. Junior High School and Elementary schools are free of charge (tuition wise), however, the school requests students pay book fees, uniform fees, final tests fee. Some of the children have extended family who still send them money. Some of them don't have family to support them. They can't afford merely less than $10 per month!!!

Ina Nasution