Regular schools refuse the blind

JAKARTA (JP): The government's efforts to "mainstream" blind children is often scuppered by the refusal of regular schools to take them in alongside able-bodied students, an official says.

Rosyid Rosihan of the Ministry of Education and Culture said in a seminar to commemorate National Education Day here Saturday that many schools fear that taking in blind children may cause them extra work.

"Regular school principals are afraid that the blind students will become a burden," Rosyid, who is head of the special school department of the Ministry's Directorate of Lower Education, told The Jakarta Post after the seminar, organized by the Mitra Netra Foundation.

Rosyid said that the school administrators were mistaken. "Accepting blind students will actually make the school look better, create a better image," he told some 150 participants.

According to the ministry's data, about 2,600 blind children between seven and 12 are currently enrolled in 164 regular schools across the country.

"But more than 100,000 blind children are not attending school for a variety of reasons," Rosyid lamented.

A 1993 census found that there were around two million blind people in the country.

Rosyid said one of the most effective ways to educate the blind and prepare them for their future is by sending them to regular schools. "We don't want to have to build more schools or add teachers," he said.

A 1986 ministerial decree allows blind students to pursue their education at ordinary schools. Currently, schools for the blind are limited to primary school (SD) and junior high school (SMP) levels.

The decree is in line with the growing trend in the education of the blind, to encourage blind students to adopt an ordinary way of life.

Another speaker, Mulyono Abdurrahman of the Jakarta's Teachers Training Institute, said that the effort to mainstream blind children to regular schools is also often hampered by parents' reluctance.

"They are embarrassed to send their blind children to school," he said.

"Blind people need to socialize and should not just study at special schools," Mulyono said. "Going to regular schools gives them the opportunity to cultivate contacts with the community, and to be independent."

In addition to the seminar, the Mitra Netra Foundation, which was established in 1991, also held an exhibition of instruments to help blind people read, type and play.

The main message of the foundation, an organizer said, is clear: blind people yearn to be independent and become a part of society without being excluded. This is possible, given the proper tools and opportunities. (31)