Govt criticized for neglecting children

Bandung municipality’s goal to make the city child friendly is still far from expectation, say children’s activists.

Eddie B. Handono said government institutions lacked mutual vision in children’s education, especially after regional administrations were entrusted with wider authority, including that to arrange their own budgets, in the wake of decentralization.

“Every government agency still operates with a sectoral mind-set. They think they are fulfilling obligations when they carry out their main duties and functions. In fact, they are neglecting children’s rights,” Eddie said in a discussion themed “30 Years of Reflection of Indonesian Children’s Protection Movement” held at the Indonesia Menggugat building in Bandung last week.

He said education, manpower and social affairs offices were only concerned about budgeting.

“Educational affairs are seen as the sole domain of the education sector, and in the case of a child becoming a laborer, they will leave it to the manpower office. They have yet to formulate a comprehensive concept. This is a challenge for every stakeholder,” he said.

Nanang Supriaman, a counselor for juvenile delinquents from the Bandung Rehabilitation Center, highlighted the issue by recalling the recent arrest of students in motorcycle gangs.

Instead of supporting efforts to introduce punishment outside of prison, the Bandung Education Office suggested that the schools expel the students.

“This strays from the spirit of restorative justice given the consequences that the kids could no longer attend state schools,” Eddie added.

Ahmad Taufan, the head of the Bandung Independent Teachers Action Forum, said parents at times added to the woes by arranging informal after-school tuition for their children.

“Parents are not solely to blame. The education system also deprives children of their rights. As an example, the policy on the national examination in which tests focus only on cognitive aspects has prompted parents to turn elsewhere to provide additional tuition for their children,” said Taufan.

Bandung’s Padjadjaran University psychologist Dien Fakhri Iqbal attributed the issue to the lack of efforts on the part of educational stakeholders to view the issue from a child’s viewpoint.

“Not many try to look at the problem from a child’s viewpoint. Many of the NGOs still view children merely as objects,” she said.

Based on data from the Bahtera Foundation, an NGO dealing with children’s counseling, the number of street children in Bandung from 1993 to 1994 stood at around 500. The number drastically rose to 4,000 in 1998 following the monetary crisis.

With the number expected to surpass 4,000, Bandung municipality has set aside social services funds that would cater only to 100 street children this year.

“So what to do with the remaining thousands? They could trigger social problems in the future,” foundation activist Maman Suparman reasoned.