Rights of Special Needs Children Not Optimally Fulfilled

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.

Special needs children are in a difficult situation due to the Covid-19 epidemic, which has dealt a big blow to their daily activities. The government\'s concrete support is urgently needed.

Due to the large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) imposed to curb the spread of the disease, special needs children are finding it hard to carry out their daily routine.

Most of the 11 sectors that were exempt from social restrictions imposed between mid-April and early June in four provinces and 22 regencies/cities were related to economic activities. Other activities that were exempt from the restrictions were health and energy services. The same policy is also applied in the second PSBB period in a number of areas.

Also read: ‘We Have Tried Various Applications...’

Education is carried only through online learning, especially for special needs children. As a result, many therapy centers for children with down syndrome or hyperactivity, for example, are closed.

The difficulties experienced by special needs children tend to go unnoticed, leading to the public opinion that the fulfillment of the rights of the special needs students has not been optimal. It can be seen from the results of a Kompas poll conducted in early September.

Also read: Guarantee Special-Needs Children’s Right to Education during the Outbreak

KOMPAS/P RADITYA MAHENDRA YASA

A student with disability participates in an activity on Wednesday (10/16/2019) at the Surya Bunda skills school in Wanurejo, Borobudur district, Magelang regency, Central Java. The school provides a variety of activities to help develop the motor skills of special needs children.

Insufficient

About 34 percent of the respondents considered that the government had not made sufficient efforts to fulfill the rights of special needs children.

Nearly seven out of 10 respondents said the government was not doing enough and had not been able to accomodate the needs of children with special needs to conduct online learning. Four out of 10 respondents said special needs children were not part of the government’s target in online learning.

Also read: Hopefully, Our Children Can Go to Therapy Again...

The difficulties experienced by special needs students in online learning is also shown in a survey conducted by the Covid-19 Response Disability Organization Network. A survey held in in April in 32 provinces found that 67.97 percent of the special needs children involved in the survey said they encountered problems during distance learning.

The challenges faced by special needs children are even tougher. The government\'s policy to impose distance education through online learning has not considered the condition of special needs children, who have physical, sensory, mental and intellectual limitations.

The government was not doing enough and had not been able to accomodate the needs of children with special needs to conduct online learning.

KOMPAS/JUMARTO YULIANUS

Some Down syndrome children participate in coloring activities on the commemoration of World Down syndrome Day in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, Sunday (24/3/2019).

Through Education and Cultural Ministerial Regulation No. 70/2009, the government has regulated inclusive education for students with disabilities and those with special intelligence and talents. The regulation requires regency/city governments to provide at least a primary school and a junior high school in each district, and inclusive education which are obliged to accept special needs students. However, until last year, there were only 29,317 inclusive schools in Indonesia, which accounted for 11 percent of the total number of schools. Meanwhile, only 18 percent of special needs children attended inclusive education. On the other hand, not all regencies or municipal districts / cities have special schools.

The 2019 Education Statistics data indicate that seven out of 10 special needs students did not go to school anymore. The Education and Culture Ministry estimates that seven out of 10 children with special needs have not received proper education.

Also read: Children with Special Needs More Vulnerable during Covid-19 Pandemic

There is the lack of understanding and the lack of efforts in promoting the importance of providing good education for the special needs children. The results of this poll showed that one third of respondents were unaware of the existence of inclusive education. About a third of other respondents did not understand inclusive education for special needs children even though they had heard the term.

Seeing the complexity of the problems faced by the special needs children, nearly three-quarters of the respondents thought it would be more appropriate if the government focused on supporting distance learning and easy access to therapy. (Kompas’ R and D)