To keep children of local traders off the streets of Johor Baru, Rayhan Ahmad started a ‘school’JOHOR BARU, Sept 5 — Twenty-seven-year-old Rayhan Ahmad and several of his friends have been holding evening classes for children of traders in Johor Baru’s popular Bazaar Karat since 2017. “We started out on a volunteer basis... most of these children are considered homeless or have parents who work as traders at Bazaar Karat. “The idea started as we want to discourage these children from being exposed to unhealthy activities as they will often be seen roaming the streets at night as their parents are busy working, while the homeless kids will be begging for money,” said Rayhan. Today, classes are conducted upstairs in a pre-war shophouse that is called Sekola Baroka in the city centre. The former executive assistant at a state government agency decided to quit his job and do this full-time. The founding member of Sekola Baroka said the first two years teaching the children, mainly aged between three to 12, were not easy. “The makeshift school attracted a fair amount of children from lower income families as well as traders’ children. “We taught them the 3Rs (reading, writing and arithmetic) on a fully volunteer basis,” said Rayhan, adding that the friends who assisted him came from varied backgrounds with some being former teachers as well as lecturers. Rayhan said after two years of operating from the streets, he and his friends finally were offered the first floor of a shophouse located in the middle of Bazaar Karat that operates daily from 7pm to midnight. He explained that he pays RM2,000 per month for the current premises. “However, the floor is also shared with a traders’ association office where the rental is split with the school having to pay 75 per cent while the remainder is paid by the association. “Being the main tenant, we also pay the water and electricity bills. Basically, the school needs about RM2,000 to run our classes for the children,” said Rayhan, adding that some of the monthly commitments were offset through fee payments of between RM30 and RM70 a month by parents. However, Rayhan made it clear that the school will still accept children of parents who can’t afford the fee. He said what mattered most was the children’s well-being where they able to be in a much safer environment while learning or picking up a skill. Rayhan said the school also has skills and crafts workshops where interesting activities such as sewing and also soap-making are held. He said most of the raw items needed for the projects are donated by business owners nearby. “Since Sekola Baroka is not a profit-making enterprise, we depend on donations and also grants to help us continue the projects. “We run a cafe from late mornings to the afternoons as a means to assist in our daily operations,” said Rayhan who added that community-focused urban regeneration organisation Think City Sdn Bhd assisted with grants for the past two years. “Currently, we have 27 children between the ages of three to 12 years coming to the school,” he said.
