The statement was made by FSGI's Secretary General Heru Purnomo on Sunday in response to the case of a 13-year-old student identified by the initial R who torched his school building due to being bullied by his friends.
In a statement on Sunday, he noted that the formation of the task force is in accordance with the Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Minister's Regulation (Permendikbud) Number 82 of 2015 on the Prevention and Handling of Acts of Violence in Educational Institutions.
Purnomo assessed that it is important to create a complaint system for protecting victims and witnesses. In handling the cases, psychologists from related agencies get involved to prevent the perpetrators from repeating their acts of physical and verbal violence.
"Unfortunately, the formation of the task force and complaint system mandated by Permendikbud 82/2015 has not widely been implemented at schools," he said.
He stressed that the schools are strictly prohibited from ignoring reports of bullying experienced by students because, in R's case, when the school was questioned by various parties, it seemed that the school did not understand the bullying victim's psychological condition.
He said R admitted to have earlier made a complaint to the school regarding the beatings he experienced but the school only summoned the perpetrators and did not give any punishment.
"Thus, the perpetrators did not get a deterrent effect, and continued to bully," he added.
Based on data compiled by FSGI from January to June 2023, there are 12 cases of bullying in educational institutions, and eight of them have been taken to a legal process.
He condemned all forms of violence in educational institutions, including those committed on the basis of discipline.
Purnomo said that preventing violence against children can be carried out through collaboration between schools and parents.
He also encouraged parents to implement positive parenting because children who are raised with harsh parenting have the potential to do violence to their peers as an outlet for their anger and hurt caused by the violence they experienced from their family members.
Parents must also educate their children to have the courage to speak up if they fall victim to the acts of violence at schools.
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Translator: Lintang Budiyanti, Raka Adji
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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