Padang City Government Mandates Fathers to Collect Report Cards and Take Children to School
The Padang City Government has taken a progressive step to strengthen family resilience through more balanced parenting between fathers and mothers. Through its latest policy, the city government is encouraging more active involvement of fathers in key moments of their children’s education as part of an effort to build an emotionally and mentally healthy generation.
This commitment is realised through the issuance of Circular Letter (SE) Number 400.13.1/104/DP3AP2KB-PDG/2026. In the regulation, the city government urges fathers or male guardians to collect their child’s report card in person and to take their child to school on the first day.
The policy is a follow-up to the Circular Letter of the Minister of Population and Family Development/Head of BKKBN Number 17 of 2026 concerning the Indonesian Exemplary Father Movement (GATI). The move emphasises that child-rearing is not solely the mother’s responsibility.
Head of the Padang City DP3AP2KB, Boby Firman, asserted that a father’s involvement in school activities can have a significant positive impact on a child’s growth and development. The physical presence of a father at important schooling milestones can build strong emotional closeness while dispelling the stigma that parenting is only the mother’s role.
This programme is also a strategy to reduce the ‘fatherless’ phenomenon, a condition where a child grows up without the active involvement of a father figure in parenting, even though the father is physically present.
‘A father’s physical presence at school can create strong emotional closeness. This positively influences the increase of self-confidence, provides a sense of comfort, and builds the child’s mental readiness to undergo the learning process,’ Boby said on Thursday (18/6/2026).
Mayor of Padang, Fadly Amran, explained that the implementation of this policy will adjust to the academic calendar or schedule of each school. The Padang City Government is also anticipating potential clashes between the obligation to take children to school and fathers’ working hours.
Therefore, fathers or guardians participating in this movement will be granted dispensation for late arrival at work. The mechanism for granting dispensation will be adjusted based on the internal regulations of each agency, state-owned enterprise (BUMN), regionally-owned enterprise (BUMD), or workplace within Padang City.
This policy has been disseminated to all heads of regional apparatus, vertical agencies, and sub-district and village heads. Educational units are also asked to play an active role by communicating the schedule for report card distribution well in advance so that fathers can adjust their agendas.
This aligns with the Padang City Government’s efforts to strengthen human resource development from the smallest foundation, namely the family. Amidst social challenges such as digital parenting and family communication crises, the presence of a father figure becomes a crucial element.
Through the Indonesian Exemplary Father Movement, the Padang City Government hopes to create stronger synergy between families and schools. Children’s education is expected to not only take place in the classroom but also grow from warm relationships and positive communication at home. For Padang City, the best investment for the future is not only physical development but also building strong families as the foundation for producing a superior generation that is mentally and emotionally healthy.