"Parents and families are the main foundation in forming a good and quality child's character,” director of family development for children under five and children at the BKKBN, Irma Ardiana, said in a written statement received here on Tuesday.
Creating quality children starts with the nurturing of infants in the first 1,000 days of their life, she added.
According to Ardiana, the class has been opened to address nutritional problems among Indonesian children, especially childhood stunting.
The Kerabat class is meant to serve as a forum for increasing the knowledge and skills of parents in nurturing and fostering children's growth and development through physical, mental, intellectual, emotional, spiritual, social, and moral stimulations.
The class aims to educate parents, especially in nurturing children during the first 1,000 days of their life so that they can grow and develop optimally, have emotional, social, and physical abilities so they are ready to learn, innovate, and eventually, compete at a global level.
The class, which targets adolescents, couples contemplating marriage, pregnant women, breastfeeding women, and children aged 0–59 months, is expected to provide effective services for bringing about behavior change at the family level.
Ardiana said that Kerabat is an innovation from the BKKBN and a part of efforts to prevent stunting as well as a form of appreciation for activists and parents who have joined classes and implemented the knowledge of nurturing children.
"Children are one of the main assets for a country to prepare the next generation of its nation. Children are a gift as well as a mandate from God whose growth and development must be maintained well," she remarked.
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Translator: Hreeloita Dharma, Raka Adji
Editor: Suharto
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