RANA and the Spaces We Must Nurture Together

Schools across Indonesia have just completed the School Environment Introduction Period for the 2026/2027 academic year. Amidst stiff new uniforms and awkward first encounters, the government chose this moment to champion a movement that sounds simple but entails a massive undertaking: the National Movement for Safe and Comfortable Spaces for Children (RANA).

This movement was launched by Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Pratikno in late June, following the President’s directive to ensure educational units truly become safe spaces for children. Its scope has since broadened to include not only schools but also families, public spaces, and the digital realm. The government capitalised on two key moments to mainstream the initiative: the commemoration of National Family Day with the theme ‘Father Must Be Present’, and the start of the new school year.

While launching a national movement is not new in Indonesia’s social policy history, the context behind RANA is particularly striking. Data from the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection’s Online Information System for the Protection of Women and Children recorded over 35,000 female and child victims of violence throughout 2025. By early 2026, nearly three out of ten reports of violence against children occurred within educational settings, with most cases involving bullying that perpetrators often dismissed as mere ‘jokes’. Furthermore, an annual report from the Indonesian Child Protection Commission indicated that while the number of complaints decreased slightly in 2025 compared to the previous year, the volume of cases handled remained virtually unchanged, with family and alternative care environments becoming the highest contributors to complaints.

These figures are not just statistics to be forgotten as the news cycle moves on. They are a cracked mirror reflecting the very spaces that should make children feel most protected: home and school. It is within this context that RANA emerges, not as a standalone new programme, but as an umbrella framework attempting to unify various child protection efforts that have previously operated in isolation, sometimes overlapping and often unaware of one another.

Institutionally, the movement is designed to operate through five pillars: public education, strengthening quality families, providing safe educational units and temporary care services, protecting children in digital spaces, and strengthening rapid response systems when violence occurs. The government did not stop at a ceremony in the capital. A memorandum of understanding has been signed with the association of city governments to ensure implementation extends to the regions, with the Special Region of Yogyakarta, known as an education city, being prepared as one of the pilot areas.

This commitment goes beyond launch rhetoric, as the government has also prepared a binding technical regulatory framework. The implementation of a friendly School Environment Introduction Period this academic year refers to the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education Regulation Number 12 of 2026 and Ministerial Decree Number 198 of 2026. A circular from the Minister even expanded the scope to include early childhood education, equivalency programmes, and non-formal education pathways, with adjustments based on local conditions and readiness. At a technical level, the spirit of RANA’s education pillar is translated into concrete policies such as the Safe and Comfortable School Culture programme, strengthening character education, and limiting gadget use in school environments.

Cross-sector commitment was evident from the launch moment itself. The movement was championed not only by the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture but also alongside the Ministry of Religious Affairs, the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs, the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection, and provincial governments. This early involvement is logical, as the various forms of violence targeted by RANA—ranging from physical, psychological, and sexual abuse to bullying and digital violence—cut across the jurisdictions of many ministries, making it impossible for a single institution to handle alone.

This design reflects an awareness that the issue of violence against children cannot be resolved by a single, top-down approach from the centre. It requires small nodes moving simultaneously in every city and village. We all share the same role: to collectively reject and act upon any instances of violence against children in our surroundings.

To understand why RANA targets four domains simultaneously—family, school, public space, and digital space—it is helpful to borrow the perspective of developmental psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner. He taught that a child’s development never occurs in a vacuum but within interconnected circles, from the immediate environment of the family, expanding to school and community, and finally touching upon state policy. When one circle cracks, the others bear the consequences. A child who does not feel safe at home will carry that hurt to school, and a child left alone in the digital space will seek validation in risky places.

This ecological way of thinking is actually not foreign to our educational tradition. Ki Hajar Dewantara long ago taught the philosophy of ‘tut wuri handayani’, a concept that presupposes adults are present to guide from behind, not to control from the front, in nurturing a child.