Blind children 'need equal opportunity' in regular schools
Blind children 'need equal opportunity' in regular schools
Emmy Fitri, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Aminah struggles to get a look inside the room from a window so she could watch her son, Muhammad Irfan. She was not the only one. Other curious mothers, six or seven of them, were trying to do the same thing.
Inside, Irfan sat awkwardly on his seat, once in a while covering his face with his thin hands. He didn't talk much -- in a room full of high-spirited kindergarten age children. He was very shy and obviously trying to adapt to the school environment.
"He's just been a month here," his mother said, trying to excuse him.
Born blind, Irfan was late enrolling at to the school for visually impaired children -- a common occurrence in a country where parents are often reluctant to part with their children, or who simply do not know where to send their impaired children to get an education.
"People from yayasan (foundations) told me to bring him here. I don't know if I have to pay the tuition fees or not," said Aminah.
A breadwinner for her five children -- Irfan is the youngest -- Aminah washes laundry to make a living.
That Saturday, the children should have ended their session at 10 p.m., but they extended classes for an hour for a group of journalists who came to their school, located in the compound of a school for extraordinary children SLB-A on Jl. Pertanian Raya in Lebak Bulus, South Jakarta.
The school is home to 60 students from pre-school age to high school level.
When asked if Aminah, who was left by her husband for another woman, wanted to send Irfan for further education, Aminah shook her head and tears brimmed her eyes saying, "I don't know. He's blind."
Certainly, she must not have heard anything about EFA -- Education for All -- a policy that the Indonesian government has recognized for 15 years. And she must not have known that she was not alone, as government gives support to people like Aminah.
"Access to education is a primary right for all children, whether they are sighted or visually impaired. And we are obliged to give equal opportunity to visually impaired children to get their basic education," said David Spiro from the Helen Keller International.
And for that reason also, Mudjito, from the National Education Ministry's directorate general for extraordinary education said, "It is an ongoing reform within our national education that we want visually impaired children to go to regular schools, and there is no need to segregate them from sighted children."
He admitted that at the moment many blind children could not go to school because they were not taught the skills they needed to cope with the environment of a regular school.
Statistics suggest that only 3.3 percent of the country's 1.5 million children with special needs receive any education.
"We want to lift the barriers. It's high time for us to embrace inclusive education because it will also be less costly for parents of visually impaired children. These children can just go to regular schools," Mudjito said.
It is for this reason that the SLB-A in Lebak Bulus now has an additional building called the Early Intervention Center for the Blind -- the first in the country -- in which blind children, aged between three and eight years old are introduced to the basic knowledge needed for them to enter regular schools.
Designed and developed by Helen Keller International, the center is equipped with computer facilities, JAWS (Job Access with Speech), CCTV (Closed Circuit Television) and teaches the children how to read Braille, as well as orientation and mobility skills.
It serves as the beginning of an inclusive education system or integrated school where sighted and impaired children study together.
Also attending the Saturday media briefing were Stephen Hill from the United Nations Education, Science and Cultural Organizations (UNESCO) and Sylvia Djawahir from Braillo Norway.
Helen Keller International, together with UNESCO and led by Braillo Norway and the Indonesian education ministry publish the Inclusive Education Toolkit.
The toolkit -- a series of six manuals -- will provide a comprehensive guide for teachers, administrators and school communities to help them understand and create an inclusive environment in every classroom.
"It's a new concept here but we have tried it out in West Java, and it works well there. Some privately run schools have also applied this kind of concept."
"Partly it (inclusive education) is also a moral education for parents and the public in general that children and people with special needs are among us, and that we have to learn to live side by side with them," Mudjito said.
Spiro added, "It's not pity that these children want, but equal opportunity in access to education."
So, hopefully, in four or six months when Irfan has learned Braille and starts to enjoy the joy of searching for knowledge and the thirst for more knowledge, his mother will know that she matters and that she is not alone. And Irfan doesn't have to stop there.
On the net:
www.hkiasiapacific.org
www.icevi.com
www.usaid.govc
www.dikdasdki.go.id
www.depdiknas.go.id
www.mitranetra.or.id
www.unj.ac.id