Early childhood

Early childhood
education still a luxury
for most Indonesians

Santi W.E. Soekanto
Contributor
Jakarta

Ridha turned five late last year and was bored with
kindergarten, so his parents devised ways to enroll him in a
neighborhood elementary school in Depok, despite being too young.

He soon enjoyed the lessons, but could not cope with the
bullies. One day, one of the big boys tried to take his lunchbox
and money. Ridha fled and refused to return even after much
cajoling from his mother and teacher.

"He is not ready for elementary school yet. He is not mature
enough," his exasperated teacher commented. "It would be better
to send him back to kindergarten."

After much consultation, the parents finally returned Ridha to
his preschool class. Ridha, who began reading and counting when
he was four and no longer enjoyed a class in which everyone else
was only beginning to recognize the alphabet, rebelled. He
refused to attend either school and insisted on staying home,
reading and watching television.

Ridha is actually more fortunate than many other children of
his age because of his head start. His father is a writer and his
mother is a highly educated homemaker, so both understand the
importance of giving children an early start in education.

"I didn't teach Ridha to read. I encouraged him to scribble
and learn the alphabet on my bedroom wall," his mother said.
"Naturally, he soon got bored with preschool, where everyone was
only expected to learn to share their lunch and play."

Ridha is also more fortunate than some 10.1 million children,
or 83 percent of Indonesia's 12.2 million children between the
ages of four and six, who do not have access to preschool
education.

That means, only a measly 17 percent of children of preschool
age are now in preschools, according to Dr Fasli Jalal of the
Ministry of National Education.

Poverty and low availability of educational services are
usually blamed for this fact. According to a recent statistic, of
the 42,000 preschools across the country only 112 of them are
state preschools, while the rest are privately run, causing a
diverse range of quality and approach.

In East Java, for example, some 87 percent of the four million
children under six years old do not have access to preschool
facilities. "This is a serious problem, which needs to be tackled
because it involves the future of our children," Fasli said.

It would take some time for Ridha's parents to convince him to
return to school, but his case provides an apt illustration of
the problems facing parents of pre-schoolers. The quirky nature
of child development means that no matter how much we, as a
community, try, there is no blueprint education program that
could meet all the needs of all children. The existing program
only meets some of the needs of some of the children.

The government has shown a commitment to improve not only
accessibility but also the quality of our preschool facilities by
establishing the Directorate of Early Education (known as PADU)
in the Ministry of National Education in March 2001 under the
current leadership of Dr Hutomo. In a seminar in Surabaya in
February, he was quoted by the media as blaming the poor quality
of preschool education on the poor welfare of the teachers.

"Preschool teachers should make more than university
lecturers," he said. "I will fight my best to solve this
problem."

The government defines preschool education as a program to
assist physical, mental development and growth outside the
family, before children enter elementary school. "It provides a
cornerstone for the development of attitudes, knowledge, skills
and creativity that a child needs to adjust to their environment,
and for their future growth and development."

Preschool education, however, is not a precondition for entry
to elementary school. Does anyone know the ministry has decreed
the content of preschool education to be the following: "The
development of Pancasila morality, religion, discipline, language
skills, thinking ability, creativity, emotional skills, social
skills and physical education"?

The existing forms of preschool are kindergarten for children
between four and six, play group for those at least three years
old, day care for the under three, and other facilities that are
approved by the Ministry of Education, which is also in charge of
the supervision of the learning process.

No parent or expert is in any disagreement about the
importance of preschool education and the role of its teachers
for a child's later development. Preschool teachers are "parent-
surrogate, servant and playmate" all rolled into one, says Edi
Warsidi, a preschool teacher in Bandung in an article at Pikiran
Rakyat.

The sad thing is that not many parents and experts agree with
the statement that the quality of our preschool education is
high. Members of the Organization of Pre-school Education
Facilities (GOPTKI) agreed in March that providing good preschool
education is a tall order when facilities often just consist of a
makeshift classroom.

Suhartini Hartono of GOPTKI claims many preschools do not even
have enough space for a playground. "It's difficult to meet the
requirements of a good kindergarten, which is that it should be
built on a plot of land that should cover at least 3,000 square
meters," she said, adding that not many kindergartens have enough
support material for teaching either.

There are of course kindergartens that meet all the criteria
for good preschool education. Parents, however, face another long
list of hindrances before their children can enter them. One
Islamic kindergarten in the Depok area is famous because parents
believe it offers a "quality curriculum with ample playground
space" but parents have to fork out up to Rp 4 million to enroll
and more than Rp 80,000 in monthly tuition fees. In another
famous Islamic kindergarten in South Jakarta, children as young
as two years old are placed in long waiting lists for eventual
enrollment when they reach the age of four.

Low availability and accessibility are only two of the
problems facing Indonesia's preschool education. Another problem
is the oft-mentioned poor quality, blamed on poor educational
facilities for teachers and poor welfare. In fact, there are
temporary teachers who are paid between Rp 20,000 and Rp 50,000
per month, according to Kompas. That's US$2 per month!

There is also the question of the 1994 curriculum delineated
by the government, which decrees that no reading and writing
skills are to be taught at preschool facilities. "Teachers and
administrators find that difficult to comply with," according to
Megawati Zainuri, the owner and teacher of At-Taqwa Kindergarten
in Cimanggis, Depok, "because most elementary schools now demand
new students be able to read and write."

Megawati, who asks parents to pay only Rp 250,000 to enroll
their child and Rp 10,000 per month for tuition, teaches her
students reading and writing. She admitted that once a Ministry
of Education supervisor scolded her for doing that, but pointed
out that now most kindergartens teach reading and writing. "A lot
depends on the approach. If you force a preschool child to sit
quietly in the classroom and read, you're in for a difficult
time," she said.

"I support early learning of the alphabet and Arabic
characters," Megawati said. "But only as long you allow children
to do it in a fun way, which allows them to continue playing as
well. Only then will learning not become a routine chore for the
child."

One parent once wrote to the teachers of a private school in
Bali, praising them for doing "more than strive for academic
achievement, a school that encourages and nurtures personal
growth, a school that helps to create happy, confident, well-
balanced children.

"People are different and a school should embrace this truth,
it should encourage diversity and nurture the individual. It is
no better to be a great artist than it is to be a great
scientist, builder, dressmaker or farmer. What is important is
that we help kids to know what they want to do, what makes them
passionate, what has meaning for them.

"Most importantly, school should equip kids with tools to
understand themselves and those around them. By learning to
understand themselves, they will learn compassion for others,
they will be kinder to themselves and others."