Legislator: Mental Health Must Be Included in the Education Curriculum

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Deputy Chair of the MPR RI, Lestari Moerdijat, is pushing for mental health to become a core component of the national education curriculum. According to Lestari, this must be done because Indonesia’s current education system focuses solely on academic performance statistics rather than the mental and emotional health of students. “If this situation is allowed to continue, schools will unwittingly become spaces that produce pressure rather than build resilience. Mental health must become a core part of the national curriculum,” Lestari stated in an official press release received in Jakarta on Saturday. According to Lestari, data from the Ministry of Health at the beginning of 2026 shows that around five percent of Indonesian children and adolescents experience symptoms of mental disorders, particularly depression and anxiety. This finding is supported by the results of the Free Health Check Programme (CKG) in March 2026, which states that one in ten Indonesian children faces indications of mental health problems. Of the approximately seven million children screened in the programme, 4.8 percent experienced depression symptoms and 4.4 percent experienced anxiety symptoms. However, of that number, only 2.6 percent of children and adolescents received professional treatment. Lestari continued that the high number of children experiencing mental issues leads to a rise in criminal cases committed by children. One example is the case of a child killing their mother in Sumbawa, NTB, and in Semarang, Central Java. “That is a symptom. A symptom of a system that fails to equip them with the most basic human ability, which is to understand oneself,” Lestari emphasised. Lestari added that if the government does not seriously address this issue, the nation risks losing an entire generation due to growing up under the pressure of fragile mental health threats. “To become a strong nation, we need successor generations that are not only intellectually superior but also mentally resilient,” Lestari said. By incorporating mental health handling into the national curriculum, Lestari believes mental problems in children can be more easily addressed from an early stage. Schools will also become more open to children’s mental issues, allowing students to receive proper mental health services from educators.