Elected Governor Pramono Anung Promises To Make A Governor's Regulation For Children's Education With Disabilities

The elected Governor of Jakarta Pramono Anung Wibowo (ANTARA)

This policy aims to ensure the government's attention to the future of children with disabilities in Jakarta.

"I will explore the issue of education for children with disabilities so that children with autism and those who have difficulty learning get attention. Whatever the amount, they are the responsibility of the state to be assisted," said Pramono while attending the commemoration of the 25th Anniversary of the Pelita Hati Extraordinary School (SLB) at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (TMII), East Jakarta, Sunday 2 February.

Pramono highlighted the lack of special schools for children with disabilities in Jakarta. Based on data from the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government, in early 2023 there were 89 SLBs in the capital.

Of these, 13 were managed by the DKI Jakarta Provincial Education Office, while 76 others belonged to the private sector.

However, the distribution of SLB in Jakarta is still not evenly distributed. One example is North Jakarta which currently does not have a SLB.

"Di Jakarta sendiri ada sekitar 29 ribu anak dengan autisme. Sayangnya, belum semua wilayah memiliki SLB atau sekolah untuk disabilitas. Ini menjadi perhatian khusus kami," tambahnya.

Di sisi lain, Kepala SLB Pelita Hati, Sri Utami Sudarsono, menyambut baik rencana pembuatan Pergub tersebut. Ia berharap perhatian pemerintah tidak hanya terbatas pada pendidikan, tetapi juga mencakup masa depan anak-anak disabilitas di dunia kerja.

"One thing that the government must also think about is the implementation of labor regulations that require private agencies to employ one percent of disabled workers, as well as two percent of government agencies. Unfortunately, this rule has not been fully implemented," said Sri Utami.

He emphasized that until now there are still many SLB graduates who have difficulty getting jobs.

"So, our children still don't know where to work," he concluded.