Yogyakarta City Raid on Daycares Uncovers 31 Unlicensed Facilities Out of 68 Inspected

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, YOGYAKARTA - The Yogyakarta City Government (Pemkot) has conducted sweeps of dozens of child daycare centres following the emergence of an alleged abuse case at Daycare Little Aresha. From the inspection of 68 daycares carried out, 31 were found to lack official permits and will be closed.

Yogyakarta Mayor Hasto Wardoyo stated that the raids on child daycare facilities have been ongoing for the past two days. This is an emergency measure to ensure the safety of services for children in Yogyakarta City.

“For the past two days, we have started raiding child daycare facilities,” he said.

“Out of those 68, 37 are officially licensed, the others are not,” he added.

According to Hasto, the data collection is still ongoing. The number of identified daycares may also increase. He assured that the city government will take action against daycares without permits. This includes audits to encourage managers to promptly obtain legality up to closure.

This is because some unlicensed child daycare facilities actually originate from early childhood education institutions such as PAUD or kindergartens that already have legality. However, in their development, these institutions opened child daycare services without obtaining specific new permits.

“The PAUD or kindergarten is already legal, but then they want to develop child daycare services. That should have its own permit arranged. If there is no legal standing, it’s better not to provide that service,” he said.