'Mainstreaming' Indonesia's education system worth a try

'Mainstreaming' Indonesia's education system worth a try

By Lucia Esti Elihami

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Our country's disabled do not yet enjoy the
same rights as other citizens who regard themselves as "normal".
Discrimination in many aspects of life is evidently prevalent in
our society's treatment of the disabled. In the workplace, for
example, many job advertisements call for "applicants with no
handicaps only". Discriminatory treatment is also experienced by
the disabled in the justice system, where the testimony of a
disabled person is sometimes ignored; in the social security
system, where insurance usually does not cover the disabled, and
in many other aspects of life.

In a situation where many of the basic needs of the majority
have not been satisfactorily fulfilled yet, it sounds
"justifiable" to pay insufficient attention to the welfare of the
disabled. Moreover, the disabled are not adequately represented
in the government, which should actually serve as the guarantor
of their rights.

In the field of education, discrimination exists in the form
of segregated schools for the disabled. The school system is
designed from the viewpoint of and for the benefit of nondisabled
people. In this system, there are only limited openings for
disabled students at regular schools. Instead, they are
encouraged, if not compelled, to enroll in special education
schools. Whether or not this system will benefit disabled
children or whether they really need special education schools
are not among the concerns of the "normal" decisionmakers.

Seen from the point of view of the disabled, the special
education system is more disadvantageous than advantageous. It is
true this system can provide disabled children with special
skills to cope with their disabilities. Nevertheless, by studying
in special education classes, children are deprived of the most
valuable experience: the opportunity to share in the common
experiences of other nondisabled children, the children who, in
the future, will be their peers in society.

Besides excluding disabled children from the common
experiences of ordinary children, special education classes also
tend to label the children as "disabled". This may lead to
rejection on the part of the nondisabled children. For disabled
children, this label will usually lead to low self-esteem and
will further develop into a destructive self-fulfilling prophecy.
The ultimate result is that disabled children will become more
and more isolated from society.

The disabled actually prefer to be treated as ordinary human
beings. They want to be independent and live normally with other
people in the society. On the contrary, the nondisabled usually
regard them as perpetually in need of help and assistance. Since
most disabled children expect to ultimately function as
independent adults in society, placing them in a segregated
classroom does little to prepare them for their adult lives. It
would be more beneficial for disabled children to enroll in
regular schools rather than in special education schools.

Certainly not all disabled children will benefit from the
practice of educating them together with the nondisabled
students, or "mainstreaming". Some children, because of their
extreme disabilities, would be unable to study in regular
classrooms. However, mainstreaming is considered to be a
desirable and workable system for educating disabled children. In
the United States, mainstreaming has become a common practice
which has been in use since the 1960s.

In Indonesia, it is not clear whether mainstreaming has ever
been practiced systematically, but there have already been some
visually impaired students who have finished their graduate or
post-graduate studies. Many hearing impaired persons have also
achieved similar success in education. Possibly these persons
achieved such a high level of education from their own
initiative.

Some obstacles continue to prevent mainstreaming from gaining
in popularity in Indonesia. The first relates to the
unavailability of teachers who can make mainstreaming work. To
mainstream disabled students successfully, we need teachers who
can really understand the psychology of the disabled, who can
deal effectively with them and who are resourceful enough to
facilitate them to learn, in spite of their disabilities.
Furthermore, the teachers must be competent enough to ensure a
smooth integration of the disabled with the entire class. For
this purpose, the teachers need to have special skills which can
only be achieved through intensive and continuous training.

Adjustments in school facilities can present another obstacle
in Indonesia. To make mainstreaming successful, schools must be
equipped with additional facilities such as audio-visual
equipment, Braille books, special restrooms for the mentally
disabled, and many other facilities. The school building in
general must also be designed so as not to create difficulties
for disabled students. This certainly is a costly adjustment for
the average Indonesian school.

Establishing successful mainstreaming requires a lot of money.
Yet the benefit that will be achieved by this endeavor is in
proportion with the money spent. For disabled students, in
addition to making them more prepared to integrate with the
society in their adult lives, their learning progress can be
better than the progress of those in segregated classrooms.

For nondisabled students, mainstreamed classes may help to
cultivate sympathy for the less-privileged members of the
society, and foster other beneficial attitudes.

In Indonesia, mainstreaming has never been systematically
attempted on a large scale, involving disabilities such as mental
retardation, emotional disturbances and cerebral palsy. Lack of
financial and human resources may be the reason for such a
failure. However, if we remember that from their own initiative,
some visually impaired and hearing impaired Indonesians can
achieve such a high level of education, and if we do believe that
disabled children will benefit more from mainstreamed education,
it is worth a try to socialize mainstreaming in order to help
disabled children to pursue their ideals.

The writer is a staff member at the Dinamika Edukasi Dasar
Foundation, Yogyakarta.