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Teaching the disabled: Inclusive education remains a challenge
With an education program funded by the Australian government, teachers, parents and government authorities are looking for new ways to improve education for disabled students in Indonesia. Pilot projects have launched in several provinces.
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A visually impaired student takes an exam at a school in Surakarta, Central Java, in April 2019. (Antara/Maulana Surya)
Ideally, there would be a school for children with special needs in each district of the country to ensure easy access to education for disabled students.
In reality, however, such schools are few and far between, making it hard if not impossible for many people to reach them.
This is the picture that Merliza, deputy speaker of the West Sumbawa Legislative Council in West Nusa Tenggara, presented during a discussion at the Education and Culture Ministry in Jakarta on Thursday.
At the discussion titled “Temu INOVASI”, Merliza said most disabled students had no choice but to enrol in schools near their homes, regardless of whether those schools were able to accommodate their special needs or not.
“Clearly, the challenge that remains is how to prepare all the schools to accept students with disabilities,” Merliza said.
According to Statistics Indonesia (BPS) data from 2019, people with disability only spend an average of 4.6 years at school. This is far below the government’s mandatory schooling program of nine years, which has been implemented since 1989.
