Pratikno to Reassess Daycare Operations in Wake of Little Aresha Case
Coordinating Minister (Menko) for Human Development and Culture (PMK) Pratikno plans to convene a coordination meeting to review the operations of childcare centres in the aftermath of the alleged violence at the Little Aresha Daycare in Yogyakarta.
Through this coordination meeting, he hopes that local governments will become more proactive in supervising daycare operations in their respective regions.
“We will hold a coordination meeting to review this as soon as possible. So, we certainly expect local governments to be more active,” Pratikno said at UGM in Sleman, DIY, on Monday (27/4).
Pratikno emphasised that the incident has drawn attention within his ministry. He has coordinated with local police on handling the case, including the legal process.
“And then from our side at Kemenko PMK, together with the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology and the Ministry of Religious Affairs, we are coordinating to prevent such incidents from happening in the future. So, this event is concerning us all,” he said.
“So from us at Kemenko PMK, issues concerning children, disabilities, education, and health are part of the President’s directives for us to handle seriously,” added the former UGM rector.
Pratikno also assured that there will be support, particularly trauma recovery for the victims and their parents, from the Yogyakarta City Government and the DIY Provincial Government.
“So we hope, of course, there is trauma healing for the children as well as for the parents. And also, we must strengthen the system going forward to prevent this from happening again,” he said.
Previously, Yogyakarta Mayor Hadi Wardoyo stated that the Little Aresha Daycare in Umbulharjo, Yogyakarta, did not possess an operating permit.
Hadi claimed that standard procedures for organising childcare facilities are required for obtaining operational permits. The city government is responsible for verification through site visits.
“We will sweep all places organising childcare in Yogyakarta City, because what happened yesterday (Little Aresha) had no permit. There was only the foundation, but no permit as a TPA, PAUD, or kindergarten,” Hadi said on Sunday morning (26/4).
Police have named 13 individuals as suspects in the alleged violence at the Little Aresha childcare centre or daycare.
Yogyakarta Police Chief, Senior Commissioner Eva Guna Pandia, stated that the naming of suspects was based on the case review conducted on Saturday night (25/4).
“Naming 13 temporary suspects, consisting of one foundation head, one school principal, and eleven caregivers,” Pandia said when met at the Amongrogo Sports Hall in Yogyakarta City on Saturday night.
Pandia said that the motives of the suspects in the alleged violence are still being investigated. Case details will be revealed at a press conference on Monday (27/4).
So far, the suspects have been charged under articles regarding improper treatment and neglect or violence against children.
Previously, Yogyakarta Police arrested 30 people during a raid on the Little Aresha daycare on Friday (24/4). The legal action was taken after police received reports of alleged child abuse at the facility.
Yogyakarta Police Criminal Investigation Unit Chief, Commissioner Riski Adrian, said that during the raid, officers witnessed inhumane treatment by the managers.
“Officers directly saw that the children were treated inhumanely,” he said, quoted from Detik.
The inhumane treatment, Adrian continued, involved binding the children’s hands and feet. Based on preliminary examinations, police stated that the number of children suspected to be victims of violence at Little Aresha reached 53 children.