Banyuwangi Elementary School Students Suspension Due To Bullying, Disdik Asked To Fix The School Protection System

UNSPLASH ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - An elementary school student in Banyuwangi, East Java with the initials MR (11) ended his life by hanging himself. Allegedly, MR's action was because he could not afford bullying at school.

Child observer Retno Listyarti asked the Banyuwangi District Education Office to fix the protection system in schools so that the case would no longer occur in the future.

"The Banyuwangi district Education Office should conduct an examination and confirm the actual incident. If it is true, then it should not be covered up but must be addressed to the child protection system in all schools in the Banyuwangi district, so that it does not happen again," said Retno in a statement quoted on Monday, March 6.

The school had denied any bullying in schools that caused MR to hang himself. The former Commissioner of the Indonesian Child Protection Commission considers the attitude of the school to be unjustified.

Because, based on family information, the victim often told her mother that she got bullied because her father had died. In fact, MR is often reluctant to go to school, and often gloomy when he comes home from school and plays.

"The loss of a father is certainly a tough psychological pressure for a child, when this psychological loss problem has not recovered, the victim's child is bullied because of the loss of his father," said Retno.

Retno emphasized that schools should learn from this case, as well as try to understand what actually happened in the school environment.

"There should be special attention when there is a change in attitude, because the family stated that their child has turned gloomy since he was bullied because he doesn't have a father. Being dismissed from bullying is a form of relinquishing responsibility and efforts to maintain the image of the school," he said.

Furthermore, Retno assessed that the cause of a suicide was not the only one. However, the condition of losing a father and being bullied because he no longer has a father can certainly be the main factor for the child to decide to end his life.

"What educators should do is build empathy and sympathy for their fellow children for the disaster or injustice experienced by others, not bully", he added.