KPAI Finds Many Unlicensed, Business-Oriented Daycares

The Indonesian Commission for Child Protection (KPAI) has reported that, following its monitoring efforts, numerous daycares have been found to be unlicensed or possessing weak legality, often operating solely with a business-oriented focus.

“At the monitoring sites, we found daycares without permits or with weak legality, meaning managers tend to operate without control, and we frequently encounter an orientation that is purely business-driven,” stated Kuju KPAI Aris Adi Leksono during a working meeting with Commission VIII of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI) in Jakarta on Tuesday.

“The safe child guarding is weak and inadequate. This means the efforts to provide a strong, comprehensive protection system for children in daycares remain very weak,” added Aris Adi Leksono.

The competence of childcare providers was also found to be inadequate, with the ratio of caregivers to the number of children failing to meet established standards.

“The inadequate ratio of childcare providers means that for a certain number of pupils, the number of caregivers is relatively low. It is highly suspected that this is done in order to generate profit,” said Aris Adi Leksono.

KPAI also criticised the central and regional governments for tending to take action only after specific cases have gone viral on social media.

“The state, in this case, both the central and regional governments, only moves after something goes viral. Therefore, we still need to strengthen systemic measures,” said Aris Adi Leksono.

KPAI conducted its child protection monitoring across daycares in five regions: Depok, Pekanbaru, Surabaya, Yogyakarta, and Banda Aceh.

This follows recent cases of violence against children at the “Little Aresha” daycare in Yogyakarta and the “Baby Preneur” daycare in Banda Aceh, which came to light in April 2026.