Jakarta, Indonesianpost.com – Deputy Speaker of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR), Lestari Moerdijat, has highlighted the need for evaluating bullying prevention and education in light of the recurring bullying cases in school environments in the country.
“Recurring cases of bullying in the educational environment indicate that the prevention efforts carried out have not been on target or that many education providers are still ignoring preventive measures,” she said in a statement released here on Friday.
According to her, as part of efforts to create competitive human resources, bullying prevention at educational units must be pursued as a joint priority through an educational system that prioritizes better character building.
She noted that several bullying cases in the educational environment have emerged in the past few weeks.
Those cases have been recorded in a number of regions of Indonesia, such as Medan, Banyuwangi, Gresik, Cilacap, and Jakarta, she added.
Based on the records of the Data and Information Bureau of the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection, 251 children aged 6–12 years became victims of bullying in schools in the January–April 2023 period.
In addition, the Indonesian Education Monitoring Network (JPPI) recorded that from January to August 2023, 379 school-aged children became victims of physical violence and bullying in the school environment.
The MPR deputy speaker emphasized that thorough efforts to evaluate bullying prevention must be made immediately to devise the right prevention system to create a safe and comfortable learning environment for students.
She said that learning that is full of violence and threats has a negative impact on the character and mental formation of students.
Moerdijat expressed the hope that stakeholders will take bullying in the educational environment seriously and take the necessary steps without delay to create a safe and comfortable learning environment.
She added that good collaboration between relevant stakeholders at the central and regional levels is needed to realize safe and bullying-free education to create the nation’s future generations who have strong character and competitiveness.