Speaker Of The House Of Representatives Highlights Student Death During MOS On The Cileuleuy River: Hazardous Activities Should Be Avoided

JAKARTA - The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Puan Maharani, highlighted the activities of the School Orientation Period (MOS) or School Environment Introduction Period (MPLS) which caused the death of a student. He stressed that student safety must be a priority for the school.

"We regret that there were students who died during the implementation of the school environment introduction period at the beginning of this new school year. Such incidents should have been avoided," said Puan, Friday, July 28.

The unfortunate incident that caused the death of a student occurred in Sukabumi, West Java. One of the students of SMPN 1 Ciambar, Sukabumi, named Mandala Aditya Pratama (13) died due to drowning in the Cileuleuy River while attending MPLS which was carried out outside the school.

One of the routine agendas of MPLS at the school is cross-country activities where new students of SMPN 1 Ciambar are required to cross the river by swimming. Puan said schools should seriously consider MPLS activities.

"Activities that have the potential to cause danger should be avoided. Because not all children can swim. The safety of students must be a priority. On behalf of the DPR, I express my deep condolences for the passing of the Mandala Aditya Pratama," said the first woman who served as Chair of the DPR RI.

"There must be someone responsible for this incident. There needs to be firm action to identify violations of safety protocols that occur during orientation activities, as well as investigate the roles of supervisors and administrators in charge of the event," added Puan.

In the aftermath of the incident, the Principal of SMPN 1 Ciambar was named a suspect by the police on charges of negligence that caused the loss of a person's life. Puan hopes that there will be an in-depth evaluation after the incident.

"The government, in this case the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Kemendikbud) must evaluate the standards of MPLS activities by schools. Schools should not ignore the safety of students," he explained.

"The school should be able to ensure that every activity that students participate in is safe. In addition, I encourage the school to be more alert to student safety. No children should be released from the supervision of teachers in every form of activity," added Puan.

The former Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture also asked all schools in Indonesia to make the SMPN 1 Ciambar incident a lesson. In making programs, said Puan, schools should not be careless.

"This is a strong warning to the world of education, because the life of a child of the next generation of the nation must be lost due to neglect by the school. Hopefully this kind of incident will not happen again and it must be a reminder of how important supervision of students is," he explained.

Puan added, this incident is a bad precedent in the world of education. He hopes that in the future the Government can be more careful in supervising every program of activities carried out by the school.

"Of course this is also the responsibility of the local government as well. How the education office (disdik) should also participate in supervising so that MPLS is carried out safely," said Puan.