Cases of bullying or bullying in educational institutions seem endless. The role of parents and schools is very important in preventing the rise of bullying in the school environment.
The explosion incident at SMA Negeri 72 Jakarta last week is still a public concern, considering that the alleged perpetrator ABH is a 17-year-old student.
After the explosion, news emerged that the alleged perpetrator was a student who was a victim of bullying. This shows that the school environment has not yet fully become the second safe home for all school residents.
Although it has not been confirmed whether the perpetrator is really a victim of bullying, such cases that occur in the school environment are often news from the mass media.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2024 released a report that every year around 1 billion children aged 2-17 years worldwide experience violence, both physically, psychologically, sexually, and neglect.
In addition, one in three students reported experiencing bullying the previous month. In fact, more than three students were involved in physical fights with their friends the previous year. Sadly, most of the violence occurs in the educational environment.
Bullying cases in Indonesia continue to show an increasing trend and are now one of the serious issues for the world of education and child protection. Based on information from the Indonesian Education Monitoring Network (JPPI), there was a sharp increase in cases of violence in the educational environment in 2024. In 2023, there were 285 cases of bullying. This figure shows a spike to 573 cases, an increase of more than 100 percent in the last year.
Of the total, about 31 percent is directly related to bullying. This figure shows that bullying is still the most dominant form of violence in schools.
Meanwhile, the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) reported that throughout 2023 there were 3,800 cases of bullying, and almost half of them occurred in schools and Islamic boarding schools.
Then in 2024, this institution received 2,057 complaints related to child protection, with 954 cases followed up. Although the number of complaints has decreased compared to the previous year, the trend of bullying remains high consistent and shows that schools are still vulnerable spaces for children.
The United States is a country that is quite often faced cases of shootings or attacks in schools, both with students or school residents and people outside of school. In UNESCO's report, it is explained that violence not only damages mentally but also affects the academic achievements of the victim's physical welfare. Economic losses due to school violence per year are estimated at 11 trillion US dollars (US) or equivalent to IDR 184 quadrillion.
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Clinical and forensic psychologist Kasandra Putranto said that the phenomenon of bullying is difficult to completely eradicate from educational institutions in Indonesia, as well as several countries in the world, because of its complex and multifactor nature.
Kasandra explained a number of reasons that make bullying in educational institutions difficult to eliminate. First, because of social and psychological dynamics. Bullying, said Kasandra, often arises from feelings of jealousy, revenge, or desire to dominate in social groups of children or adolescents.
"The perpetrator may have imitated the behavior of the house or media, while the victim was often reluctant to report because he was afraid to be considered weak or replied," Kasandra told VOI.
The phenomenon of bullying that repeatedly occurs in the educational environment is also caused by the lack of understanding of teachers, students, and even parents in interpreting bullying. There are still many of us who interpret bullying as a joke or part of adolescence so that it is not taken seriously.
This creates a normalized culture of bullying, especially if it is only verbal or online, not physical. Ironically, in many events, cases of bullying are resolved peacefully without touching the root of the problem so that it has the potential to fertilize similar incidents.
Kasandra also said that other factors such as domestic violence, peer rioters, or media content such as violent videos could worsen cases of bullying.
"Children imitate the aggressive behavior of the home environment, mediam or peers that strengthen bullying," he said.
Another thing that can also cause lasting bullying in educational institutions is that the handling of bullying in schools does not have standards that can be used as a reference by educational institutions in Indonesia.
Dalam banyak persoalan, terutama di kalangan remaja, orang tua sering tidak hadir dan mendampingi tumbang kembangan anak dengan baik.
Meanwhile, in schools, teachers also bear a big burden. Even though a safe learning environment allows students to develop optimally and grow into empowered citizens.
Kasandra explained that the relationship between parents and children is very important to prevent bullying. Parents need to recognize their children's behavior through good communication so that they can understand the attitudes and changes that occur.
Parents need to know the signs of their child experiencing bullying such as a drastic decrease in academic value accompanied by a gloomy attitude, reduced learning spirit, behavioral changes such as being quiet or easily emotional. Children can also experience sleep disorders, withdraw from relationships, and are often lazy to go to school.
"Therefore, parents must be sensitive to every change in their child's attitude in order to provide proper support and protection," he said.
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