Pandemic Erodes Special Education

KOMPAS/SUCIPTO

Fitriani, 45 (right) helps her son Arief Fadillah, 16, a student of the SLB Tunas Bangsa school for children with disabilities, study at home in Gunung Bahagia village, South Balikpapan, Balikpapan city, East Kalimantan, on Monday (20/7/2020). Arief, who has a physical disability, needs to be accompanied by his mother while studying from home during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Special education in Indonesia has been pioneered by private institutions from the beginning. Before Indonesian independence, the Dutch East Indies government acknowledged the absence of focused attention to children with special educational needs.

At the time, the provision of education for special needs children (ABK in Indonesian) was left to a Dutch social foundation that had opened a branch in Indonesia. Apart from that, special needs education was undertaken by public initiatives.

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A 2018 study by Ami Lestari of North Sumatra University showed that the Dutch set up at least three special needs schools: the Blinden Institut (1901) and Folker School (1927) in Bandung, West Java, and the Werk Voor Misdeelde Kinderen Indonesia in Wonosobo, Central Java, the precursor to Yayasan Dana Uphakara (1930).

The establishment in 1953 of Yayasan Pembinaan Anak Cacat (Foundation for the Development of Disabled Children; YPAC) by Dr Suharso also played an important role in the development of special education. Those needing help during that era of the post-independence war were those who had been permanently injured and disabled, as well as the general public, especially children who were born with disabilities. The YPAC later expanded to become a full rehabilitation and education institute and opened special needs schools (SLB in Indonesian) in 11 cities.

Government role

Only in the early 1960s did the government start to take a role in special education. For instance, when the Elementary Education and Culture Department was reorganized in 1963, special needs schools were placed under management of the Preschools, Elementary Schools and Special Education Directorate.

However, private institutions maintained a large role in the sector. Up until 1975, only nine out of the 150 special needs schools on record were state run (Kompas, 24/11/1975).

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In an article published in the Pendidikan Segregasi journal (2010), Mimin Casmini described the limited availability of special needs schools in 1984. The government then launched the six-year Compulsory Education Movement (Wajar, 1984) that required all school-age children to complete elementary education.

Special needs schools were found only in major cities and were mostly private institutions. The private sector’s role in special education (PLB in Indonesian) has prevailed up to the present. According to the “2019-2020 PLB Statistics” published by the education ministry, only 26.12 percent of the existing 2,270 schools is state-run, while 73.88 percent is privately run (Education and Culture Ministry, 2020).

KOMPAS/HENDRA A SETYAWAN

Deva Meiza Pradana, a quadriplegic student, takes part in a national exam at the YKK Junior High School (SMPLB) for Children with Disabilities in Pacitan, East Java, Tuesday (23/4/2019).

Educational participation

The special education sector in Indonesia indeed still gives reason for concern. The higher the education level. the fewer opportunities are available for special needs children to participate in education.

According to 2018 data from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), three out of 10 disabled children in Indonesia have never been to school, and around 140,000 special needs children aged 7-18 are school dropouts.

The highest educational participation rates were recorded among elementary school-aged children of 7-12 years old (89.78 percent) and junior high school-aged children of 13-15 years old (74.88 percent). The rate of educational participation declined in senior high school-aged children of 16-18 years (43.61 percent) and college-level students aged 19-23 (21.64 percent).

The highest proportion of children without schooling were recorded in the junior high school age group of 13-15 (30.62 percent) and senior high school age group of 16-18 (51.01 percent). Meanwhile, the highest level of schooling among children aged 15 and above was elementary education (25.83 percent), while less than 10 percent had completed junior high education or the equivalent education level.

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This education problem is also inextricably linked to the familial conditions of special needs children in Indonesia. Their parents’ education, coupled with general embarrassment stemming from social stigmatization, is one of the constraints the government has faced in accessing the families of special needs children.

Usman Basuni, Deputy Assistant of Protection for Special Needs Children at the Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection (PPPA) Ministry, revealed that the majority of parents of special needs children had not finished elementary school (Kompas.com, 29/7/2020).

It is unsurprising that parents with a low education level tend to conceal their child’s condition, so their data remain unrecorded at local health facilities or social affairs offices. This situation can be worse if parents believe that their special needs child has a mental disorder and keep them caged.

Kompas/Priyombodo

Irfan, who has hearing impairment, uses sign language during a 30-minute daily online class on Wednesday (26/8/2020) from his house in Larangan, Tangerang municipality, Banten. His disability has not dampened Irfan\'s enthusiasm for studying at the SLB Sumber Budi school for disabled children in South Jakarta.

Environment and economy

The UNICEF report also highlighted the impacts of environmental and financial constraints on special needs children. It found that 47 percent of special needs children lived in rural areas and that 40 percent of half of all special needs children in Indonesia came from poor families.

It is no overstretch to imagine that major cities may eventually offer more opportunities for special needs children to enjoy education suitable to them. Yet, by no means would this imply that urban families are without financial constraints.

Admittedly, the cost of special needs education for autistic children at a private school in Jakarta is not low. The South Jakarta school provides counseling and facilities for individual students with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) at a cost of tens of millions of rupiah.

47 percent of special needs children lived in rural areas and that 40 percent of half of all special needs children in Indonesia came from poor families

To break it down further, the admission fee is Rp 17 million for five years, the educational development contribution (SPP) is Rp 2.6 million and individual counselling sessions cost Rp150,000 per hour. But the fact remains that the school has the capacity to meet the needs of autistic children through high-quality special education.

During the ongoing pandemic, this particular school is also experiencing difficulties. The problem is that providing schooling for autistic children requires routine. Autistic children cannot readily deal with changes to their established routine, such as implementing the government’s distance education (PJJ) policy.

With the imposition of the large-scale social restrictions (PSBB), most students have had to study from home, while their teachers still need to get paid. In the meantime, parents are bearing the brunt of the responsibilities of providing at-home learning for their autistic children. The children also need after-school individual counselling.

Kompas/Bahana Patria Gupta

Children with Down syndrome perform the Jaranan dance during the Children\'s Day Festival at the Office of the Coordinating Board for Social Welfare Activities (BKKKS), East Java Province, Surabaya, Thursday (27/8/2020). This activity is to provide creative space for children, especially those with special needs.

Limited government capacity

As special needs children have low access to education and other constraints, ideally, the government should play a bigger role in guaranteeing their rights.

First of all, the government must gather complete and thorough data on special needs children and agree on the definitions and concepts relevant to educational management for special needs children.

The government has not so far maintained complete data on special needs children. In addition, the definitions and concepts for managing special needs children frequently lack uniformity between state institutions at both the central and regional levels.

As for the data, the child protection ministry’s records differ from the data at Statistics Indonesia and the Education and Culture Ministry (Kompas.com, 29/7/2020).

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The issue of data is nothing new for psychologist Adriana S. Ginanjar, 56, who specializes in education for children with ASD. She faced the same problem in the data on special needs children several years ago, when she was actively assisting the central and regional governments in raising awareness on autism.

As regards education, the development of a curriculum for special needs children at the relevant ministries went through a period of trial and error, or as she calls it, “bongkar pasang” (assembling and disassembling).

“As soon as the officials were replaced, everything we had created, including the curriculum for autistic children, had to start again from scratch,” said Adriana.

KOMPAS/JUMARTO YULIANUS

Children with Down syndrome release balloons of prayer and hope during an event to mark World Down Syndrome Day themed "Great Down Syndrome Children" on 24 March 2019 in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan. Special needs children, just like all children, need to feel accepted, understood, loved, and supported to become independent and outstanding individuals.

The same was true when she assisted several regional administrations ready educational facilities for special needs children. The effort was related to Education Ministerial Regulation No.70/2009,  which mandated each regency/municipal administration to provide at least one elementary and one junior high school in each district, as well as one junior high school that supported inclusive education and was required to accommodate students with special needs.

Not infrequently, the existing facilities did not meet the standards of certain types of disabilities. Moreover, the conditions in the region were not conducive to special education, lacking teachers with experience in teaching special needs children, while the regions still needed campaigns to raise parental awareness on the disorders and disabilities of special needs children.

The varying conditions of special needs children indeed requires serious and focused attention, as much as that needed for managing the education system. This is even more the case during the present pandemic circumstances that have wrought many changes or need for adjustment that have not been easy on families with special needs children.

The joint commitment of government and relevant ministries is needed to create a better world for special needs children.

(KOMPAS R&D)