Komnas Ham Asks Banten Local Government To Take Firm Action Against Teachers Harassing SMAN 4 Serang Students

Illustration of Komnas HAM. (Between)

JAKARTA - The central National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas Anak) has asked the Banten Province education bureaucracy to immediately take firm action against unscrupulous teachers who are strongly suspected of having sexually harassed their students at SMAN 4 Serang City.

Deputy General Chairperson of Komnas Anak, M Uut Lutfi, said that those who were directly involved in discussing this case stated that decisive steps were needed, including temporarily disabling the alleged perpetrators from teaching activities during the legal process.

"If there are indeed many suspected perpetrators, they must be cleaned up at the school. Teachers suspected of being involved are not allowed to teach first, temporarily dismissed during this legal process. There must be firm action from the Education Office," he said in Serang, Thursday, July 24, confiscated by Antara.

According to him, this case is not just an issue of individuals, but indicates an unhealthy culture and sexual nuances in the school environment that endangers students.

He revealed that based on the victim's confession in this case, there was not only one person, and there was also more than one suspected perpetrator. This sparked deep concern and demanded serious treatment from various parties.

"This is a problem not only talking about an unscrupulous teacher, but this means I say is an unhealthy culture in the school environment," he said.

His party rejects the settlement of peace or mediation outside the legal route. Referring to the Law on the Crime of Sexual Violence (TPKS), in particular Article 23, the settlement of cases of sexual violence should not be carried out outside the court.

"There is no (mediation) sexual violence case in the TPKS law. The explanation cannot be outside the court," he said.

He has built communication with various parties to oversee this case, including meeting with members of the DPD RI who have then summoned the Education Office and the Office of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection (DP3A) of Banten Province.

Furthermore, he also highlighted the weak implementation of the Regulation of the Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Permendikbudristek) Number 46 of 2023 concerning the Prevention and Handling of Violence in the Education Unit.

Based on its findings in the field, many schools do not yet understand the substance of the regulation, although the Organizational Violence Prevention and Handling Team (TPPK) may have been formed.

"It turns out that there are still many of them (school parties) do not know what Permendikbudristek is, Number 46 does not know what TPPK is. Even though this must be formed from PAUD to SMA," he said.

For this reason, his party encourages the Banten Provincial Education Office to immediately carry out training for TPPK members in schools so that they understand their duties and functions in preventing and managing cases of violence.