Indonesians made to choose between food and school fees as inflation hits poorest hardest

Inflation in the wake of a recent fuel price increase has child protection specialists worried that the number of school dropouts is trending upwards

Database issues also mean many poor people who need government help aren’t getting it, leading to warnings ‘a vicious cycle of poverty’ will emerge

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I Made Nuka (centre) struggles to send his youngest child to middle school as prices of basic goods and fuel are rising, limiting his job opportunities as a construction worker. Photo: SCMP / Resty Woro Yuniar

Published: 8:30am, 25 Sep 2022

I Made Nuka was torn when he had to choose in July between using what little money he had to either send his son to middle school or put food on the table for his family. He ended up choosing the latter option.

Made, from Indonesia’s resort island of Bali, works as a construction worker with tentative jobs here and there in his village, located about a 20-minute drive from the glamorous beach clubs and nightlife spots of the island’s south.

His eldest son, I Putu Agus Buda Astrawan, graduated secondary school two years ago but the 21-year-old has nothing to show for it, as Made could not pay off a tuition debt of some 10 million rupiah (US$665). That means Putu’s leaving certificate is still being held by the school, making it almost impossible for him to find work to help the family.

I Made Nuka and his family live in a ramshackle house whose roof has partially collapsed. Photo: Resty Woro Yuniar

In a good month, Made can earn as much as 2.1 million rupiah – enough to feed his family three times a day, with most meals typically including rice with tempeh, tofu, and vegetables. Meat remains a luxury for him, he said.

The family lives in a ramshackle house measuring just four metres by six metres (13 feet by 20 feet), of which only half is inhabitable because the roof has partially collapsed. Made never graduated middle school himself, and said he was “saddened” that his youngest child, 12-year-old I Kadek Ardita Yana Wiradana, might now face the same fate.

“I feel like a failed parent,” Made told This Week in Asia. “If I could afford it, I would send him to school for 12 years, but what else can I do? This is the situation now. I can only afford to pay for his primary school [education].”

To send Ardita to middle school, Made would need to cough up around 1.1 million rupiah (US$73) to pay for his uniforms and books. But since this month’s fuel price increase, he can no longer afford to fill up his old motorcycle, limiting him to those job opportunities that are available in his village.