Indonesian education system : influencing policy to achieve results

Indonesia’s commitment to provide education for all Indonesian children has regularly overlooked issues facing children with disabilities, including lack of accessible latrines at public schools. The Australian Government through AusAID has expressed a commitment to meeting this need through the Australia-Indonesia Basic Education Programme 2006-2010. This paper explains how the Indonesian Ministry of National Education and Religious Affairs was supported to integrate accessible toilets and install hand-rails to encourage school attendance for children with disabilities. Through its program, AusAID supported the Government of Indonesia to develop a national inclusive education policy, which includes WASH components. This paper presents a successful example of how donors can advocate for policy change to improve accessibility for children
with disabilities. Changing a government’s policy on inclusive school design is a critical institutional milestone towards inclusion. However, this case study also shows that attitudinal barriers are equally significant when it comes to policy implementation. [authors abstract]

This case study is one of sixteen from the Towards Inclusive WASH series, supported by AusAID’s Innovations Fund.