Ahead Of The Idea Of Sending Naughty Students To Military Barrers: How Should You Train Children's Characters?

Students in Purwakarta participated in the character coaching program at the TNI Regiment Headquarters Armed Purwakarta. (ANTARA/HO-Perkab Purwakarta)

JAKARTA The argument regarding West Java Governor Dedi Mulyadi's plan to send a naughty boy to the military barracks is still rolling today.

The name Dedi Mulyadi has been a hot topic of conversation lately following a number of policies that make a lot of noise. Starting from the obligation of the vasectomi for married men who want to receive social assistance, the abolition of graduations at the kindergarten to high school levels, to sending naughty teenagers to military barracks.

For the latest case, Dedi Mulyadi said the plan was character education which began to be carried out in several areas in West Java that were considered vulnerable, in collaboration with the Indonesian State Army (TNI) and the National Police.

Program participants, selected based on an agreement between school and parents, with priority for students who are difficult to develop or indicated to be involved in promiscuity or criminal acts, to be included in the coaching program which will last six months per student.

"For six months students will be trained in the barracks and do not attend formal schools. The TNI will immediately pick up students to the house to develop their character and behavior," said Dedi.

Dedi's suggestion, this one, clearly makes a lot of noise. From the perspective of Intan Erlita's child psychologist, M.Psi, the idea of the number one person in West Java is not something that must be rejected rawly.

Intan sees that sometimes sending naughty teenagers to military barracks is necessary. However, he stressed the need for adapters and conditions to carry out this idea, including by providing which level of delinquency needs guidance to the military barracks.

"Obviously not all naughty children (sent to the military barracks) and this naughty boy is binding. You have to see what the naughty level is like," Intan told VOI.

"For example, cheating, should this level be sent to the military barracks? This is what you actually need to think about again," he added.

For juvenile delinquency cases such as brawls, bullying or severe bullying that cause casualties, according to Intan, it is among those that need to be sent to the military barracks.

"For cases like this, it's okay. Because it means they have problems with characters," said Intan again.

However, Intan emphasized that changing the character of children is not as easy as turning the palm of the hand. It takes a long time and consistent parenting so that children who are judged to have no good character change in the right direction.

"The formation of the character cannot be instantaneous. The child sent there, the hope is not a place for naughty children, but changing children whose characters are wrong, once they come out they have a better character," he explained.

"Because basically, anakal is a smart naughty person who is not handled properly," said Intan.

Meanwhile, military observer from the Institute for Security and Strategic Studies (ISESS) Khairul Fahmi considers Dedi Mulyadi's plan to send problematic students to military barracks to be very risky psychologically.

Fahmi said problematic students do not need a military approach, but rather an approach that is adapted to the problems of each child and assistance.

"What students need is not a barracks, but a recovery study room. If the problem is attitude, then the approach must be pedagogical and reflective, not coercive," said Fahmi.

He added that the problem of juvenile delinquency in the form of brawls, online gaming addiction, disobedience, and getting drunk is a social problem that can be handled with a civil, not military approach.

"The thoughts of teenagers, in the form of brawls, getting drunk, being addicted to gaming or disobedience, are not a security threat. Rather, it is a reflection of the complex psychosocial problem and requires a response based on assistance, not control," said Fahmi again.

However, Fahmi agreed that discipline was needed in shaping the character of the younger generation. However, this does not need to be taken with a militaristic approach. "But good discipline does not have to be taken through a militaristic approach. True discipline is born from awareness, not fear," said Fahmi.

In line with Fahmi, an education observer from the University of Indonesia (UPI) Cecep Darmawan assessed that Dedi Mulyadi's policy was inappropriate. In the world of education, said Cecep, the handling of student problems does not necessarily go to other institutions.

The naughty boy cannot be beaten evenly, every case has a different background. The TNI is not a solution to all kinds of problems," said Cecep.

He did not rule out the possibility of Dedi Mulyadi's good intentions in shaping the character, but according to him, his approach was not in the form of military service, but the first education of State Defense (PPBN).

This is regulated in Law Number 23 of 2019 concerning the Management of National Resources for National Defense. Cecep explained that PPBN is different from military training, because it is more similar to the student regiment (Menwa) program which is usually present in the campus environment.