Disabled people want better education

Indra Harsaputra, The Jakarta Post, Mojokerto

Being born with a disability has not stopped Ismail from getting on with his life.

The resident of Ketidur village in Kutohardjo, Mojokerto, in East Java earns a living teaching children in his neighborhood to read the Koran.

"I don't set a flat fee for teaching the children, but their parents voluntarily give me money or things, such as clothes and food," the 16-year-old told The Jakarta Post.

Since he was born, Ismail, whose parents are farm laborers, has been unable to walk and he uses his hand hands to get around.

While he is not mentally disabled, Ismail was never sent to school and learned to read the Koran and write on his own.

Ismail said he did wish to attend a special school for the disabled but his family's lack of money put paid to that idea. Instead, he focused on helping his parents by earning his way with teaching.

"I can only do this, and as long as I can teach (children) how to read the Koran, I will continue to try to earn a living by using the skills I have," said Ismail, who is grateful his family and neighbors accept him the way he is. Some neighbors voluntarily donated sets of the Koran that he used to teach the children, he said.

In Surabaya, Wuri Handayani, a handicapped woman in her 30s, believes she is luckier than most disabled people, although she remains unemployed.

Unlike Ismail, Wuri, who was recently turned down when she applied for a civil service job, attended formal schooling up to university level.

However, her disability meant she had to abandon her dream to become a pharmacist because there was no special equipment for handicapped students to learn the science.

Before getting a bachelor's degree in economics, Wuri once attended Airlangga University School of Pharmacy for three semesters. When an accident left her paralyzed, she left the school and studied economics instead.

Wuri said that in Indonesia, disabled students were still frequently discriminated against by educational institutions.

Both Wuri and Ismail are among many disabled people who have missed the chance of the education they wanted because of limited facilities.

Ministry of National Education special education director Mudjito said a lack of state funds meant there was an unequal distribution of education access for disabled people around the country. There was also a lack of focus on the need for education for the disabled, he said.

"We've done many things, including providing scholarships to the poor. But because of our limited budget, we can't provide equal education (to everyone)," he said on the sidelines of coordination meeting on special education in Surabaya on Monday.

Many disabled people in the country, mostly those coming from poor families, did not get any form of special education, Mudjito said.

According to the ministry's data, some 46,085 disabled students are currently studying at special schools both at elementary and high school level, throughout the country.

From the 46,085 students, East Java ranks first with 8,574 students, West Java in the second with 7,618 students and Jakarta in the third with 4,876 students.

Mudjito said that to deal with the problem of providing special education, the government was planning to build new schools, prepare a new competence-based curriculum, and provide more training for teachers at special schools.