5 Student Cases Have Fallen From School Buildings, Teachers Are Asked To Watch Every Floor

ILLUSTRATION OF DOK VOI

JAKARTA - The Federation of Indonesian Teachers' Unions (FSGI) noted that there have been 5 cases of students falling or jumping from school buildings this year, from early January to early October 2023.

Secretary General of FSGI Heru Purnomo said that a number of incidents of falling students from the top floor of his school building showed a weakness in supervision, especially during rest hours and school buildings were not yet safe for students.

"FSGI encourages the Ministry of Education and Culture and regional education agencies to evaluate school security systems, both physical and school human resources," Heru said in his statement, quoted on Monday, October 16.

FSGI reminded schools to ensure that all corners of the building are monitored by CCTV 24 hours, as well as ensuring the safety of the physical structure of the building.

FSGI also emphasized the need for school security supervision during vulnerable hours such as rest hours and school hours on each floor of the building. Because almost all cases occur during these hours.

"FSGI encourages school principals to build a prevention system through picket teachers on every school floor. In addition to CCTV technology, the consistency of picket teachers on each floor to continue to operate during vulnerable hours can be a form of prevention," said Heru.

Furthermore, FSGI encourages education agencies to build a prevention system for students' mental health, for example through psychosocial activities for students

"Mental health is as important as physical health, it's just that the majority of parents in Indonesia lack attention to their daughter's mental health," he explained.

For information, of the 5 cases of students falling from the top of the school building, four of them died and two victims who fell from the 2nd floor survived after receiving medical treatment.

The first case occurred in January 2023, where a private vocational school student in South Grogol, Kebayoran Lama, South Jakarta with the initials S (17 years) fell from the 4th floor of her school, allegedly for joking with her friend. It happened at 15.30 WIB, during school hours.

The second case occurred on May 5, 2023 morning, a student on behalf of BNY was found dead lying on the school volleyball court after allegedly jumping from the 8th floor of the school building. The initial suspicion was that the victim committed suicide, because the police had seen CCTV footage and witness testimony. However, the family stated that there were irregularities from this incident, and asked the authorities to conduct further investigations.

The third case occurred on September 26, 2023, an elementary school student in South Jakarta jumped from the 4th floor of the school building, which is still being investigated by the police, there is a provisional suspicion that the student is experiencing bullying.

The fourth case, on October 9, 2023, was that a SMPN in West Jakarta slipped from the 4th floor of the school building during rest hours. According to his friends, the victim came out through a classroom window which then slipped. In the third and fourth cases, the victim was declared dead.

The fifth case occurred on October 12, 2023, namely the incident of 2 SMAN students in the city of Bandung who fell from the 2nd floor of the school building. It is suspected that the two students sat on the security guardrail on the 2nd floor, so both of them fell. The incident occurred during a vulnerable hour, namely during rest hours. Both survived after receiving medical treatment. The incident occurred during a break where the teachers were in the teacher's room for tasyakuran.