Not Always Smooth Sailing: Obstacles in Entrusting Children to Early Childhood Education Facilities

Many Indonesian families face obstacles in enrolling their young children (Early Childhood Care and Education, or PAUD) in educational facilities, despite their interest in doing so.

This is evident from a World Bank survey showing that 89% of 2,341 respondents in a household sample were not interested in enrolling their children in such facilities. However, of the remaining 11% of respondents willing to enroll their children, they reported being unable to do so.

The biggest obstacle was the availability of childcare, chosen by 39.6% of respondents. The World Bank notes that the availability of childcare in institutions is a first step in reducing reliance on informal arrangements.

The World Bank gives the example that infants and toddlers are more likely to stay at home due to a combination of parental preferences and limited availability of facilities, especially formal institutions, that can accommodate them.

"During these early years, families typically have little choice but to mobilize various sources of informal childcare support," the World Bank wrote in its report, *The Economics of Care in Indonesia: Pathways to Women's Economic Participation and Well-being*, received by *Databoks* on Tuesday (September 3, 2024).

Another issue is affordability, for example, excessively high service fees, chosen by 25.5% of respondents.

Respondents also highlighted quality issues (18.9%). Other issues included convenience, such as the unstrategic location of preferred childcare facilities (6.7%) and difficulties in transporting children to and from childcare (4.8%).

Technical obstacles were also a concern, such as operating hours not aligning with household members' responsibilities (2%) and insufficient quotas at PAUD facilities (1.2%). There was also the issue of children not being accepted at childcare centers (0.8%).

The World Bank mentions that parental preferences also play a role, largely supported by social norms governing the distribution of caregiving roles within families and society, which may be the most binding constraint in some contexts.

"Therefore, institutional childcare options are unlikely to fully replace informal arrangements in the near future," said the World Bank.

The household caregiver survey on obstacles to childcare or PAUD enrollment involved 262 respondents who were willing to enroll their children in PAUD but did not. Multiple survey options were selectable.

(See also: [Fathers to PAUD, Sources of Childcare Support for Mothers](https://databoks.katadata.co.id/datapublish/2024/09/05/ayah-hingga-paud-sumber-dukungan-pengasuhan-anak-bagi-ibu))