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Early years education for all in 2014
The government has set itself the target of establishing early childhood education programs (PAUD) in every village across the country by next year, an education official says
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he government has set itself the target of establishing early childhood education programs (PAUD) in every village across the country by next year, an education official says.
Education and Culture Ministry director of early childhood education development Erman Samsudin said the funds needed to implement PAUD had been included in the state budget.
'We have set aside around Rp 600 billion (US$50.03 million) for the purpose. It's fixed. We will immediately submit the budget usage form,' Erman said in Bandung, West Java, on Wednesday.
Currently, PAUD only covers 63 percent of Indonesia's some 77,000 villages.
'That's why we want to fulfill the target by next year,' added Erman.
He said his office would provide incentives to teachers as well as education operational assistance to each PAUD institution as part efforts to meet the target.
'The education operational assistance amounts at Rp 2.7 million annually,' said Erman.
Apart from that, he said he had encouraged regional administrations to support PAUD activities by optimizing the function of the community healthcare posts (Posyandu), which is mandated by Presidential Regulation No. 60/2013 on holistic and integrated early childhood development.
In response to the matter, West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan formally announced the 2013 West Java PAUD Highlight Program.
'We will take advantage of the available facilities for the sake of PAUD,' he said, adding that there were two categories of PAUD: formal PAUD and non-formal PAUD.
Formal PAUD include kindergartens and Koran education groups (TPA), the latter of which are managed by the Religious Affairs Ministry or Islamic mass organizations.
On the other hand, non-formal PAUD are developed by the community. Heryawan said children in villages could be taught at PAUDs that already employed trained educators.
'A non-formal approach would see home porches or neighborhood meeting halls turned into PAUD,' he said.
The West Java provincial administration, added Heryawan, would assist in the implementation of the education program by providing training to teachers.
'Thus, the community could implement the education program independently,' said Heryawan.
Regarding infrastructure support, Heryawan expected the presence of Posyandu in villages could be optimized for non-formal PAUD activities.
Posyandu receive cash assistance from the provincial administration, the amount of which varies each year, from Rp 800,000 to Rp 2 million per post annually.
In 2014, Heryawan expects each Posyandu to receive between Rp 1.5 million and Rp 2 million.
'We assume that between Rp 75 billion and Rp 100 billion would be allocated for all Posyandu, the current number stands at around 52,000,' he said.
He hoped the funds could facilitate educational activities as well basic healthcare services for the community.
