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Planning to get married? Indonesia considers mandatory premarital class for couples in 2020
Couples would be obliged to enroll in a class and obtain a certificate before tying the knot.
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Putting a ring on it: Couples may have to complete a premarital education class before tying the knot. (Shutterstock/-)
W
ould-be married couples in Indonesia may soon have to join mandatory premarital classes before tying the knot as the government considers a new program designed to prepare couples to build a family.
Coordinating Human Development and Culture Minister Muhadjir Effendy said that the program, which is expected to be introduced next year, would equip couples who sought to get married with necessary knowledge about reproductive health and parenting, among other topics.
“Everyone who gets married should get some pointers on how to build a family,” Muhadjir said as quoted by kompas.com.
The program, which is planned to last for three months for each couple, would educate couples about reproductive health, managing serious illness in the family, stunting prevention and household economics.
Only after attending the classes would the couples be given certificates, he said.
“The certificate serves [as proof] to make sure that the couples have sufficient knowledge about the relevant matters,” Muhadjir said.
Separately, the Health Ministry’s director-general of public health, Kirana Pritasari, said the planned program was not entirely new, as the ministry had long cooperated with the Religious Affairs Office (KUA) in holding similar premarital classes for would-be married couples.
“A similar program has been ongoing. However, it has yet to reach the national scale […] besides, not all of the KUA has carried out the program effectively,” she said.
Kirana said such premarital program was important to ensure that the would-be married couples were both emotionally and physically prepared to handle married life and to become parents.
Muhadjir said the coordinating ministry would hold further talk with relevant ministries, including the Religious Affairs Ministry and the Health Ministry, to examine the details of the program. (gis)
