Southeast Sulawesi Education Office Holds Creativity Competition to Echo Autism Awareness

The Technical Implementation Unit for Handling Students with Special Needs under the Education and Culture Office (Dikbud) of Southeast Sulawesi held a colouring and drawing competition for kindergarten and Raudhatul Athfal level students across Kendari City to commemorate World Autism Awareness Day 2026. The activity, which took place at the Dharma Wanita Hall of Dikbud Sultra on Tuesday (9/6/2026), was attended by 100 participants. The participants consisted of 50 children in the colouring competition category and 50 children in the drawing competition category. This activity is a form of educational campaign to increase public awareness towards children with special needs, particularly those with autism, while providing a space for children to express their creativity. Acting Head of the Education and Culture Office of Southeast Sulawesi, Aris Badara, said the commemoration of Autism Awareness Day is an important momentum to encourage the creation of a more inclusive environment for all children. “Despite various limitations, the commemoration of Autism Awareness Day must still be carried out. This is part of efforts to provide access, opportunities, and independence to children so they can develop, be independent, and achieve,” he said. According to Aris, activities involving children from general kindergartens are also important because currently many children with special needs attend regular educational institutions. Therefore, schools and the community need to have a better understanding in order to provide appropriate support. He added that the Southeast Sulawesi Provincial Government continues to pay attention to children with special needs through the UPTD. The UPTD not only provides therapy and coaching services to children, but also assistance to parents so that the child’s growth and development process can run more optimally. “This is a special concern of the local government. Through the UPTD, we provide various services, from therapy to coaching for children and their parents,” he explained. Meanwhile, Head of the UPTD for Handling Students with Special Needs, Nurhaerani Haeba, said this year’s Autism Awareness Day carries the spirit of Autism and Humanity. For this reason, her party deliberately involved participants from general kindergartens and Raudhatul Athfal as a form of support for the inclusive education programme. “This theme implies that children with special needs must be accepted anywhere. Currently, the government is also continuously encouraging inclusive schools, so that all children have the same opportunity to get a proper education,” she said. According to Nurhaerani, the participants involved came from various kindergartens and Raudhatul Athfal, including schools that rarely get the opportunity to perform in regional-level activities. This step was taken to provide wider space for children to show their abilities and potential. “We want to see the potential of children from various schools. There may be children who have extraordinary abilities, but have not had many opportunities to show their talents. Through this activity, they can be more confident and motivated to continue developing,” she said. She also explained that the commemoration of World Autism Awareness Day 2026 is not only filled with colouring and drawing competitions. The series of activities will be continued with a national seminar presenting experts in the field of children with special needs. The seminar will be attended by teachers, academics, and various related agencies. The aim is to provide a broader understanding of children with special needs, starting from the identification process, mentoring patterns, to appropriate forms of intervention to support their development. Through this series of activities, Dikbud Sultra hopes that public awareness of the importance of inclusive education will increase, so that children with special needs can be accepted, supported, and gain equal opportunities to achieve a better future. She continued that the implementation of World Autism Day should have fallen on 2 April 2026 but due to many considerations it was held on 9-10 June 2026.