Equal Education, A Dream Or A Glimmer Of Hope?

I thought back to my experience with my friend. At that time, I was still in the 4th grade of elementary school. Meanwhile, my friend doesn't go to school and often goes with his mother to work as a retail petrol seller on the side of the road. We often play together in the afternoon after I come home from school. One day, while we were playing, he asked me to follow him to go to a red light. When the traffic light showed red, I was very surprised because my friend ran onto the road and started begging the motorcyclists and passing cars while asking me to come with him. He said to me, "Come along, the money can be used for snacks!"

This incident reminded me of a short film entitled "Impian Bagas" by the Guguh Nurani Indonesia foundation which was made as a form of campaign for the 12 year compulsory education program. This film is a short film with a duration of around 11 minutes which tells the story of Bagas, a child who has a dream of becoming an architect, but has to face the economic pressures of his family who are not well off. Thus, this article will discuss the issues, social realities and moral dilemmas faced by children in Indonesia in struggling to get a decent education, represented by the character Bagas in the short film "Impian Bagas".

Economic Limitations

In the film Impian Bagas, the director depicts the Bagas family as an underprivileged family. Bagas' father worked as a construction worker with a small salary. Aji, Bagas' older brother, decided to stop going to school and help his father work to support his family's economy. Bagas's mother was worried about school fees and her family's daily expenses, so she suggested that Bagas shouldn't continue his education to a higher level and help his father, like his older brother, by becoming a construction worker. 

This makes me concerned, seeing the social reality that many children cannot get a proper education and have to beg due to their family's economic limitations. Every child should have the right to receive education according to their interests and talents, as stated in Article 1 Paragraph 1 of Law no. 35 of 2014 concerning Child Protection. Apart from that, this also highlights the government's role in providing quality education for every citizen without exception nor discrimination. 

This shows that economic factors are one of the factors inhibiting education in Indonesia. In everyday life, it is not uncommon to find children who have an interest in learning, but cannot be facilitated properly. The director uses this incident to illustrate the unequal development in the education sector. As a result, children in 3T areas or Tertinggal, Terdepan, dan Terluar (Disadvantaged, Frontier and Outermost) do not receive fair rights in obtaining education. 

Mindset and Prejudices

Currently, education is very important and fundamental for every Indonesian citizen. However, there is still a mindset among people who think that education is not important and is only a financial burden which is thought to not provide reciprocity in the future. This is depicted by the director through the character of Bagas' neighbor who talks about him because he received a scholarship to continue his studies. They think that even though they have received a scholarship, going to school will only be a waste of money. Bagas mother's opinion that she is more in favor of her children working and dropping out of school indicates that her children's interest in obtaining an education has not been fully supported. In fact, parents should fully support their children to obtain education in accordance with Article 49 of Law N0.35 of 2014. 

The Number Of Children Dropping Out From School

Based on data from Portal Data Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, there are 649,600 children in Indonesia who have to drop out of school at the primary and secondary education levels. This matter deserves more attention from the government and all Indonesian citizens. To achieve Golden Indonesia 2045, adequate human resources are needed. One effort that can be made to achieve this is by equalizing education in Indonesia, especially so that education can reach the 3T area so that educational facilities can be experienced fairly by all children in Indonesia. 

Moral Dilemma

A moral dilemma is a condition when a person is faced with two choices, each of which has negative consequences or goes against certain moral principles. His family's condition caused Bagas to experience a moral dilemma to choose between following his desire to become an architect and continuing to study or listening to his mother. The moral dilemma is shown when he comes home from school happily carrying a letter stating that he received a scholarship, but throws it in the trash when he overhears a conversation between his mother and father who wants him to stop going to school. The impact of this was that Bagas lost his motivation to go to school and lied to his mother and decided to skip school and help his father work on the grounds that on that day, by telling his mother that the teachers at his school were holding a meeting so the school was closed. 

Regardless of the context of this film, similar moral dilemmas are faced by many other children in Indonesia. This can have an impact on the child's psychological condition so that it can reduce concentration in learning, become easily sleepy and unfocused, and can even lose interest in education. In fact, a stressful psychological situation can result in the child hating his own parents because he feels unsupported. The key to overcoming this problem is to communicate with the child. Most of the similar conflicts that occur are caused by a mismatch between the child's desire to obtain an education and the financial conditions of the parents and family. So in my opinion, the most effective way is to provide understanding to children and communicate well. However, it is the parent's obligation to continue to try as much as possible to facilitate the child's wishes, especially in terms of education and character development. 

Compulsory Education Program

One of the aims of the short film "Impian Bagas" is to campaign for the 12 year Compulsory Education Program. The compulsory education program is a minimum education program that must be followed by Indonesian citizens under the responsibility of the Government and regional governments. This has been regulated in Article 34 Paragraphs 1 and 2 of Law no. 20 of 2003 concerning the National Education System which states that the Government and regional governments guarantee the implementation of compulsory education at a minimum of basic education level without charging fees. 

Currently, the Compulsory Education Program has been developed into Package A, Package B, and Package C which is a total of 12 years of the program. The Compulsory Education Program is one way that the government can do to ensure equal distribution of education for children in Indonesia. With the Compulsory Education Program, it is hoped that children in remote areas can get the same rights in terms of education. The benefits of this program are described by the director at the end of the film, when Aji, Bagas' older brother, plans to take Package C from the Compulsory Education Program so that he, who was initially unable to go to school due to economic limitations and had to help his father, now gets the opportunity to continue his studies. 

Conclusion