Vaccine for Tian and the dreams of Indonesian children

By Dinda Veska, PSFR Communication Officer

Tian (6). His inked little finger means he has received Measles and Rubella vaccine. @Dinda Veska/UNICEF Indonesia/2017

Surabaya: It’s not much past dawn and Tian is already at school. Unlike the majority of his classmates, he’s excited.

Today is vaccination day at Serba Guna Kindergarten in Tegal Sari, Surabaya, and most children dreaded the day; as health officers arrived, their shrill cries fill the room. Not Tian, though; he has looked forward to it.

In West Java, learning to play, playing to learn

By Cory Rogers, Communication Officer

Alifah plays outside her preschool with her mother © Cory Rogers / UNICEF / 2017

Bogor: "When we color, we have to go slow because Alifah loves it so much she doesn’t want to stop,” says Neng Selphia, 29, a teacher at Aisyayah Baiturrahman Preschool and Kindergarten in the West Java district of Leuwiliang.

Shy by nature, Alifah lights up when it’s time to draw. Of all the colors, she says red is her favorite.

It is 10 am and the sun is already high in the sky, the humid air seemingly on boil. Alifah sits with six 4-year-olds sit on the floor eating an early lunch of bubur ayam (rice porridge), her doting mother an arm’s length away.

In a booming alto, Neng tries to keep the children from crawling over the desks: “What is a word that begins with ‘A’?” she queries. “Ayah, (father)!” one child shouts, the only to respond.

For the most part, however, Neng is keeping children focused on how to glue paper to paper -- and from wandering outside.

“We need more training on how to approach every kind of child, those that get angry, those that cry, etc.” Neng says. Cluttered shelves full of half-colored paper and two sets of faded color wood blocks sit behind her, badly needing upgrading.

Only a few of Bogor’s preschools – which have some of the lowest preschool attendance rates in Java – have teachers with undergraduate degrees. And fewer still have teachers with training on how to teach preschool.

“We need more evaluations [of our performance as teachers], too,” Neng adds.

Early education pilot

As part of a new 3-year, UNICEF-led ECD initiative funded by IKEA, Neng and hundreds of other teachers in Bogor will receive training on dynamic, age-appropriate teaching methods. Schools will also receive funds to improve teaching tools, upgrade classrooms and make them safer for children like Alifa.

At Aisyayah Baiturrahman, the money will likely go to replace an asbestos roof and upgrade flimsy plywood walls. “The walls can fall down if children push on them, and that makes me afraid they might get hurt,” Neng says.

The programme will support 100 ECD centres in the district improve all aspects of their instruction, “helping teachers and parents nurture the social. emotional and cognitive foundations necessary for children to develop to their potential,” says Meliana Istanto, UNICEF Indonesia Education Officer.

The idea is to instill an appreciation for ‘playing as learning’ among teachers and parents alike, and to save literacy skills for Kindergarten, when the brain is more developed and such instruction becomes empowering. Studies show such an approach to preschool is one of the best ways to give every child an equal chance to succeed in life.

Getting parents on board can be a challenge, however. They get confused, says Misem Hidaya (who manages 10 of the area preschools and holds a bachelor’s degree in preschool education), if preschool teachers don’t make reading and writing skills a priority.

“They can consider it a waste of money,” Misem says, alluding to the $4 USD monthly fees that supplement the government's small operational funds to keep preschools up and running. “It is important for us [teachers] to explain to them [parents] that this [preschool] is not primary school – it is an education that is appropriate to their ages,” she adds.

Such age-appropriate learning means structured playtime that emphasizes the development of motor skills and social awareness.

In Alifa’s case, her mother, Reni, says she can tell drawing and coloring among her peers helps her build independence.

“I hope preschool will help her become smarter, to become more confident in herself,” she adds.

It is a hope shared by hundreds of other families who stand to benefit from the new preschool programme in the district.

“I hope Alifah will be more ambitious than me. She’s already getting braver.”

Haze-proofing in Indonesian Borneo

By Cory Rogers, Communication Officer

Simple materials like these were used to test the efficacy of low-cost air sealing methods with partners in Palangka Raya, Central Kalimantan, a haze hotspot © Cory Rogers / UNICEF / 2017

Palangka Raya: Locals in Palangka Raya, Central Kalimantan, say haze gets so bad they sometimes can’t get home.

“I fish for a living,” says Ipung, a lissome father of two who lives on the edge of the Rungan River, 40 minutes upstream from Palanga Raya. “When the haze came we suffered; children missed school, and we all got coughs.”

His village of Katimpun lies close by the annual peat fires that shroud parts of Kalimantan -- Indonesia's portion of the island of Borneo -- in blankets of haze every year. Since December 2016, UNICEF has been working to find ways to help families like Ipung’s keep their children safe from the acrid smoke.

Justice for Kids in Banda Aceh

By Cory Rogers, Communication Officer

Yudha looks out from the window at the LPKS social services centre © Cory Rogers / UNICEF / 2017

Banda Aceh: When the cops came knocking 17-year-old Yudha was on the couch with his uncle and no time to run.

“They took me outside and asked me where I got the drugs,” Yudha said, picking at his nails at the facility in Aceh where he’s now being held.
He and his uncle had just finished smoking meth (or sabu-sabu as it is known locally) and both were in a drug-addled fog. “I told them I got the sabu-sabu from my friends,” Yudha said.

Yudha now admits he procured the meth himself. He says he’d been smoking it casually since middle school, but after his parents split up the habit began to grow; he stopped going to school, avoided going home and, in part to fuel his nascent addiction, began dealing.

In a country known for strict drug laws, the prospect of Yudha going to prison, even as a juvenile, was real. Though alternatives like social rehabilitation have grown in recent decades, thousands of children are still in prisons.

Nationwide Measles-Rubella immunization campaign kicks off

By Cory Rogers, Communication Officer

Students play outside their school prior to the start of the Measles-Rubella immunization campaign launch event in Sleman, Yogyakarta. The immunization push is part of the Government’s pledge to eliminate Measles and Rubella by 2020. © Cory Rogers / UNICEF / 2017

Yogyakarta: The Government of Indonesia kicked off its most ambitious immunization drive to date this week in Yogyakarta, with aims to vaccinate 35 million children in Java against Measles and Rubella (MR) by the end of next month. Another 35 million children will be targeted in all other provinces in August and September 2018.

The launch event, held at State Islamic Junior High School 10 in Sleman, Yogyakarta, was officiated by President Joko Widodo.  “We all have a duty as parents, and a duty as the State to protect our children, to make sure they’re healthy,” Jokowi told hundreds of Yogyakartans gathered at the school. “Parents, schools – we all need to explain that immunization is important for our children.

 

President Jokowi stops by a classroom and sits with students awaiting their MR vaccines. The Government will administer the MR vaccine to any child between the ages of 9 months and 15 years free of charge and integrate the vaccine into the standard package of immunizations. The goal is to achieve 95 per cent coverage by the end of September 2018 and to eliminate both diseases by 2020. © Cory Rogers / UNICEF / 2017.



A young girl receives her MR vaccination, which prevents both diseases and has been used in more than 141 countries in the world. The vaccinations will be administered in schools in the month of August. In September, the immunizations will move to local health centres and health posts. © Cory Rogers / UNICEF / 2017.

Grace Melia, founder of the online parents’ community Rumah Ramah Rubella, speaks about the challenge of caring for her daughter Aubrey, who was born with a severe case of Congenital Rubella Syndrome (CRS). While the symptoms are mild in children and adults, when contracted by pregnant women, Rubella can cause miscarriage or CRS which can harm foetal development causing disabilities like heart defects, brain tissue damage, eye cataracts, deafness and developmental delays.

© Cory Rogers / UNICEF / 2017

From left to right, President Jokowi, First Lady Iriana, Yogyakarta Governor Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, Coordinating Human Development and Culture Minister Puan Maharani, and Minister of Health Nina Moeloek converse with three students at the end of the campaign launch event. Most schools in Indonesia have agreed to administer the immunization. In a small number of communities, however, misinformation has given rise to the idea that vaccines are considered haram, or forbidden by Islam. UNICEF has worked closely with the Government to counter this myth with an outreach strategy that highlights widespread Muslim acceptance of immunizations. © Cory Rogers / UNICEF / 2017