Helping children overcome barriers to education

Jock Paul, Contributor, Jakarta

As soon as some children learn to overcome serious challenges in their young lives, other barriers -- these ones out of their control -- are erected in front of them.

With the right opportunity and training, students with learning disabilities are proving that they can succeed alongside other students. Unfortunately, many students are still not getting the opportunity because of the lack of education about learning disabilities and discrimination.

If they are not identified, learning disabilities usually have a severe effect on a child's education and confidence, and adding to the problem a lack of diagnosis continues to be the biggest barrier to these children's education.

But when properly treated and then given the opportunity, students with learning disabilities can lead a productive life and succeed academically alongside other students as the students at Yayasan Pantara elementary school in Jakarta have proven.

A learning disability is defined as a neurological disorder in which a person's brain works or is structured differently. Learning disabilities can affect a person's ability to speak listen read, write, spell, reason, recall, organize information and do mathematics.

Because learning disabilities cannot be seen, and because the characteristics of learning disabilities vary, they often go undetected.

When students are diagnosed at a younger age there is a greater possibility of them developing and improving. Their confidence is still in good shape and their social skills and bad habits are not as entrenched, said Dr. Vitriani Sumarlis, the resident psychologist with SD Khusus Pantara elementary school.

The school teaches only students with learning disabilities and is part of a Yayasan Pantara elementary school working to improve the lives of children with learning disabilities.

The foundation was established in 1994, shortly after a report by the Ministry of National Education found that half of the students that flunked out of school were of normal intelligence. Of the 50 percent who were of normal intelligence, about half were diagnosed with learning disabilities, said Vitriani.

Yayasan Pantara began its activities by working with the education ministry to train two teachers from each province to recognize children with learning disabilities, and how to teach and work with these children.

The program ended in 2000, but for the past two years 50 teachers from South Jakarta have undergone training and the program for teachers from other places in the country will be restarting again in a few months, said Vitriani.

The feedback from the teachers has been very positive, many of them said that they do not know how to handle these children, or about the resources available to them, she added.

Since 1997 the foundation has been able to demonstrate to teachers how children with learning disabilities are succeeding, and how they are taught at its elementary school. The school follows the national curriculum but modifies teaching strategies and has two teachers for each class of about ten students.

Only students with diagnosed learning disabilities are admitted to the school, and the purpose of the school is to teach and treat students with learning disabilities and prepare them to be reintegrated into the public school system.

The most important thing that these children need is confidence, Vitriani said. Children will usually try to hide their deficiencies, or make excuses. A kid who is having trouble reading might act out or complain when he or she is called on to read.

Dian, a first grade teacher at the school, said there are two keys to helping students with learning disabilities; communicating with their parents, and helping the students understand their own challenges in learning.

Beginning as early as the first grade, teachers teach the students to understand their strengths, weaknesses and ability to learn and help them to develop their own strategy of learning, Dian said.

"The basic problem is a perceptual disability, the children do not understand that they are distracted," said Untung S. Drazat a grade five teacher. He said that the teachers gave the students exercises to improve their perception.

Beginning in grade four the school has an integration program to help the students adjust to the public school when they graduate from SD Khusus Pantara in grade six, or sooner if they wish and are ready, Untung said.

The students practice socializing and role play to get used to the increase in the number of students at public school, and the teachers prepare them to receive less individual attention, Untung said.

Unfortunately all the hard work that the students and teachers at SD Khusus Pantara put in is often fruitless because of the discriminatory admission policies of some junior high schools.

Many parents of graduates of special elementary schools have found that middle schools are unwilling to accept their children when they find out where their child went to elementary school.

Even after he passed the academic admittance test at his desired middle school, Rinati Adrin's son was not accepted because he failed a psychological test.

Junior high schools are allowed to accept only who they wish and there is nothing obliging them to accept all students that meet a specific criteria, so there is little incentive for them to accept a student that might require a little more attention.

When Rinati stopped telling the schools where her son went to elementary school he was accepted at the next school he applied.

"If he was not accepted here, where can he go to school?" Rinati said in frustration, adding that the government must take this problem seriously.

The barriers exist for students despite the fact that, according to Vitriani, when the students enter public school again they usually do not have too many problems with adjustment, as long as they are well supported by their parents, and teachers are aware of the students' situation.

Vitriani said it would be advisable to have a high school similar to SD Khusus Pantara to help students that are diagnosed later, but that the most important thing is to educate people about learning disabilities.

Considering the lack of priority that the government is giving education, her modest expectations are realistic. Indonesia spent just 1 percent of Gross Domestic Product on education in 2002, compared to between 4.5 percent to 7 percent in developing countries, and 2.5 percent to 7.5 percent in many other developing countries.

Despite the challenges children face, Vitriani remains optimistic about the impact of Yayasan Pantara's work.

The simplest and most important part of treating and helping children, she said, remains simply identifying problems and adjusting parents' expectations -- and helping children understand their own challenges.