20.9 Percent Of Indonesian Children Grow Without Father's Role

Minister of Population and Family Development (Menduk bangga)/Head of the National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN) Wihaji. (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Fathers are not just breadwinners, their presence in the child's growth and development process plays an important role in shaping personality, stable emotions, and children's social skills.

Unfortunately, the father's involvement in parenting is often neglected. In fact, research shows that children who grow up with fathers who actively contribute emotionally and socially tend to have higher resilience and more optimal cognitive developments.

This condition is in fact not fully reflected in Indonesia. The Minister of Population and Family Development (Menduk bangga) as well as the Head of BKKBN, Wihaji, said that around 20.9 percent of children in Indonesia grew up without the role of active fathers, which had an impact on their emotional, social and intellectual developments.

"Children tend to interact more often with their mothers. This pattern causes imbalance in parenting patterns, and has an impact on children's development in the long term," said Wihaji in Jakarta.

Referring to UNICEF data in 2021, the absence of a father figure in parenting in Indonesia is caused by various factors, such as divorce, death, and the work of a father who requires to stay away from his family.

The same year BPS survey also shows that only 37.17 percent of children aged 0.5 years grew up raised by their parents simultaneously.

Wihaji emphasized that the family is the first learning environment for children, and the father's presence is not only a complement, but a vital part of the process.

"Many fathers still think that parenting is only the responsibility of the mother. In fact, fathers play a big role in the formation of a strong and psychologically healthy child character."

As a solution, BKKBN has the Indonesian Exemplary Father Movement (GATI), an initiative that aims to strengthen the role of fathers in raising children, including in assisting children into adolescence.

"Through GATI, we want to build awareness that the father figure is very decisive in the direction of child growth. This is an effort to create a strong family, which can produce a competitive and characterable future generation," said Wihaji.

He also highlighted the phenomenon of "stegory generation" a term that describes a young generation that looks attractive but emotionally fragile and easily gives up under pressure. Father involvement in a child's life is expected to be a balancer to shape a strong and resilient character in the face of challenges of the times.

GATI has various programs, ranging from online counseling services through the Ready to Marry and Satyagatra platforms, to community-based approaches through the Exemplary Fathers Activities and Community Consortium (Kompak Tenan).

This program is also expanded to the local level through Papa Teladan Village (Dekat) in the Family Village with Quality, as well as integration with the school environment through the concept of Joint School with Father (Sebaya).

These initiatives are designed to instill a collaboration-based culture between fathers and mothers, in order to create equivalent and gender-fair parenting, in order to create a harmonious family and children that develop optimally.