Jakarta (ANTARA) - Commission X of the House of Representatives (DPR) has urged the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology to make the handling of school bullying its priority work program.

"We hope that there is a legacy that becomes a good practice from the era of the (current) minister to be made a prototype for policies in the next era," said Syaiful Huda, the commission's chairperson, in a statement from the DPR on Wednesday.

He made the statement in response to a bullying case involving students of BINUS School in Serpong, South Tangerang, Banten.

Huda said that the handling of school bullying cases is not yet optimal, despite the ministry issuing Ministerial Regulation Number 46 of 2023 on the Prevention and Handling of Violence in Educational Units (PPKSP).

The regulation acts as the legal basis for the formation of violence handling and prevention teams at the school level and violence handling and prevention task forces at the regional government level.

He noted that the implementation of the regulation has not run well.

"In fact, there are still many schools and regional governments that have not formed PPKSP teams and PPKSP task forces," he added.

He said that the current handling of bullying cases at educational institutions still seems uneven since not all such cases are handled quickly.

Huda also said he believes that the quick response to bullying at BINUS School Serpong should be the standard for handling such cases in other schools and areas.

“This quick action would not happen if the bullying were to take place in other schools and areas. Is it because the students suspected of being involved have a high profile, so everyone wants to pay great attention?" he asked.

Earlier, news of the bullying of a student at an international high school in South Tangerang circulated on social media.

Head of the public relations cooperation bureau of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, Anang Ristanto, told ANTARA on Tuesday that the ministry is following up on the case.

He said that the ministry has communicated with BINUS School Serpong and found that the school has formed a violence prevention and handling team.

He added that the South Tangerang city government has also formed a PPKSP task force.

Ristanto assured that the victim is receiving optimal treatment, and efforts to handle the bullying case are being carried out under the investigation mechanism so that sanctions will be slapped on the perpetrators in accordance with the applicable regulations.

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Translator: Tri Meilani, Raka Adji
Editor: Anton Santoso
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