"Today`s students get stressed by the bad traffic."Jakarta, Sept 27 (ANTARA) - Vice Chairman of People`s Consultative Assembly Hajriyanto Y Thohari has said the lack of character development programmes in the national educational curriculum might be responsible for the rising number of student brawls.
"There must be a total improvement in our education system to reinforce good character in students. They now tend to fight and engage in violence easily. It is due to lack of character building programmes in schools," he said here on Thursday.
Thohari expressed regret for the recent brawls between students.
He stated that the Ministry of Education should review and overhaul the current education system and introduce a new system that focuses adequately on character building.
"From what I see these days, our education system focuses too much on formal and academic matters. We have no character building and Pancasila education," Thohari said.
Therefore, he added, the Ministry of Education must include Pancasila moral education in schools` curriculum, either as a stand-alone lesson or integrated with other lessons.
"Through character building and Pancasila moral education in schools, we can hope to create people who are ethical and love their country," Thohari stated.
However, he pointed out, there could be other factors that triggered frequent fights among students such as lack of role models and the bad traffic in Jakarta.
"Today`s students get stressed by the bad traffic. Besides, they cannot seem to find good role models, whether it be in politics or in religion," Thohari said.
"Besides, there is a possibility that students behave badly these days because they see the nation`s leaders and elders ruining the country through corruption," he went on.
Thohari cited as an example a television programme that showed parliamentarians arguing and fighting.
"Such things will, of course, affect the students` psychology. Therefore, they tend to break the law and not follow ethical principles," he explained.
Thohari expressed hope that the government would cooperate with educational institutions and parents in tackling the problem before it worsened further.
(Uu.SDP-50/INE/KR-BSR/A014)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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