Rumors Of Child Kidnappings Are Rife, Parents In Mataram Are Asked To Take Their Children To And From School

Illustration of school children (ANTARA)

MATARAM - The Mataram City Education Office, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), asked parents and school officials to be vigilant about cases of child kidnapping by continuing to supervise children closely, especially when they come home from school.

"Parents must pick up their children on time, to avoid potential cases of child kidnapping", said the Head of the Mataram City Education Office, Yusuf Zain, quoted by ANTARA, Thursday, February 2.

The statement was made in response to the dissemination of information on child abductions which spread across several social media on Wednesday, February 1, thereby worrying parents and also the school. Even though this information has been officially declared a hoax.

However, said Yusuf, parents can take positive things from this information, including that the school is asked to keep a close watch on students, especially when they come home from school.

"Most of the parents of students in the city of Mataram work until the afternoon, so they are sometimes late to pick up their children, even before sunset", he said.

Related to this, the school was asked to keep an eye on the children who had not been picked up until their parents arrived.

"Many parents of students are employees, so sometimes they forget to pick up their children. The child must still be escorted by the school so that the child does not go home alone", he said.

According to him, school hours are a very vulnerable time for students to go home alone or play on the side of the road while waiting to be picked up, especially for children who are still in elementary school. At elementary school age, children are not yet able to take care of themselves so supervision from both parents and the school needs to be improved.

"We hope that teachers and schools are here to provide comfort to children and parents by not letting children leave the school grounds before their parents come to pick them up", he said.

Because of this, Yusuf asked the school to keep the school gate closed and not allow children to wait outside until the student's parents came to pick them up. This effort was made to prevent students from playing on the side of the road or outside the school.

"Meanwhile, teachers have to wait for the student's parents to come to school, and then they can be left home. So our task is to pick up the children when they come home", he said.