Indonesian Students' Voice about Their Right to Participation at School: Expectation and Reality

Students' right to participation at schools is one of children's rights according to the Child Rights Convention proclaimed by UNESCO which has been adopted in Indonesia. The research investigated: 1) students' knowledge about their rights to participation at school, 2) students' perception about the exercise of their rights to participation covering the scope of their participation and their expectation about the exercise of their rights to participation at school, and 3) students' attitude toward the gap between their expectation and the reality. The participants were 100 students of four high schools at Surakarta, Indonesia. The data were collected through focus group discussion and questionnaires and were analyzed inductively referring to Lundy's model of participation and Perez-Exposito. The findings showed that the meaning of the right to participation for the students was the right to take part in any school activities including making decision. Students perceived that schools had the basic participation requests in terms of space, voice, audience, and influence. Looking at the gap between the expectation and the reality, most of the students accepted the gap while the rest tried to communicate their aspiration to the teachers. Only a few students did not care about it. However, it is recommended that schools hear the students' voice especially in making decision in a decision making situation. The students' influence should be enhanced by taking their voices into account.