Campuses In South Korea Reject Prospective Students Perpetrators Of Bullying, Can Indonesia Emit?

JAKARTA A number of leading universities in South Korea (South Korea) have begun to reject prospective students who have record bullying or bullying. This step is expected to help stop bullying among school children.

The rise of bullying cases in South Korea has made a number of well-known universities take concrete steps, namely seeing the track record of bullying when they select prospective new students.

Several flagship campuses such as Seoul National University (SNU), Korea University, and Yonsei University, as reported by Korea JoongAng Daily, began asking middle school to submit a history of student behavior and discipline, including whether students had been involved in bullying.

Deputy Chairman of Commission X DPR RI Maria Yohana Esti Wijayanti feels that the Indonesian education system needs to imitate the steps taken by the South Korean government, given the high number of bullying cases that have recently occurred in the educational environment.

However, Ubaid Matraji, the National Coordinator of the Education Monitoring Network (JPPI), assessed that Indonesia cannot immediately imitate South Korea's policies, because the condition of students in these two countries is very different.

South Korea is among the biggest bullying cases. Korean dramas, such as The Glory, which airs on Netflix in 2023, tell of bullying in the school environment and are increasingly attracting public attention.

Launching The Korea Herald, the proportion of students reporting being victims of school violence has risen to its highest level since the government began monitoring the issue in 2013. Still from the same source, elementary school students are the most affected groups.

A survey released by the Ministry of Education of South Korea on school violence showed that 2.5 percent of students said they experienced violence last semester. This figure is the highest since the national survey began 12 years ago.

The increasing public attention to bullying and school violence has forced the Ministry of Education of South Korea to implement a new policy. Previously, universities in the Ginseng Country depended heavily on the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) and academic value as the dominant factor in admission of new students.

However, now a number of universities are reviewing their priorities. The value of CSAT is no longer a determining factor. Behavioral records during school are part of university selection. This is expected to create a safer campus environment and strengthen the value of social responsibility and student integrity.

With this new regulation, according toKorea JoongAng Daily, as many as 296 students were refused to enter the university after their bullying history was included in the admission process.

In 2025, Kyungpook National University rejected 22 applicants because they had a record of bullying, even though the academic score was high. Previously, Kyungpook had also implemented a point reduction system for applicants who had a record of school violence violations.

Another campus that also applies a similar policy is Seoul National University, which rejects two applicants with a superior CSAT score just because it has been involved in a bullying case.

The case of bullying in Indonesia is already very concerning. In the past few years, several cases of bullying have gone viral. Call it Aulia Risma, a Diponegoro University medical student who died by suicide after being unable to be bullied by her seniors. Allegations of bullying were also experienced by Udayana University student Timothy Anugerah. Like Aulia, she chose to end her life as a result of being bullied.

Not long ago, a student of SMP Negeri 19 South Tangerang died after receiving an act of violence from a friend. He was reportedly thrown by a chair by his schoolmate.

Reflecting on the steps taken by South Korea, Maria Yohana Esti Wijayati urged the strengthening of regulations in the revision of Law Number 20 of 2003 concerning the National Education System (RUU Sisdiknas). In addition, Esti also encouraged the Indonesian government to follow the South Korean steps that implemented a policy against prospective students who had been involved in cases of bullying.

According to Esti, Indonesia can adapt the way South Korea faces the high number of bullying in the world of education. He hopes that social sanctions in the form of rejection of prospective students on well-known campuses should serve as a reminder to the perpetrators of bullying.

"Ini menarik, bisa menjadi contoh untuk penanganan sanksi sosial kepada pelakubullying. Norma sanksi yang jelas dapat membuat mereka yang terindikasi memiliki sikapbullying lebih hati-hati dan memiliki pengendalian diri," sebut Esti.

However, Ubaid Matraji's National Coordinator assessed that Indonesia cannot simply imitate South Korea's policies regarding bullying actors in schools. Indonesia's very different condition compared to South Korea is one of Ubaid's concerns. Currently, students' behavior records have not been integrated nationally.

"So, entering a history of bullying into college selection can actually be a burden or stigmatization for students," said Ubaid when contacted.

Without a clear mechanism and guarantee of protection of children's rights, according to Ubaid, the label has the potential to harm students in the long term. This situation is different from South Korea, which does have a more structured and data-based student behavior documentation system.

For Indonesia, the most urgent thing is to strengthen character education, strengthen child protection in schools, and build a reporting mechanism for bullying and rehabilitation systems for both victims and perpetrators.

"With this effort, the record of student behavior can be more valid and fair if one day it is considered in the selection process," Ubaid emphasized.