Measuring Reasons For The Forced Use Of The Hijab Against Non-Muslim Students At SMKN 2 Padang

Illustration (Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The force of wearing the headscarf for non-Muslim students by SMK Negeri 2 Padang, West Sumatra is in the public spotlight.

This story begins with the upload of a Facebook account, Elianu Hia, who is a parent of a student at SMK Negeri 2 Padang. He uploaded a video of his son being called by the school for not wearing a headscarf. He objected to the existing regulations because they are non-Muslims.

After being given an explanation the school did not want to make concessions. Furthermore, on the grounds of carrying out obligations, these students must still wear the hijab in accordance with school rules.

This video then went viral on social media and caused a lot of criticism until finally the Principal of SMK Negeri 2 Padang, Rusmadi officially conveyed his apology. He conveyed this in a press conference held on Friday, January 22.

"As the Principal of SMKN 2 Padang, I would like to apologize for all the mistakes of the staff in the field of student affairs and counseling in applying the rules and dress code for students," said Rusmadi at that time.

He said that the implementation of this obligation was purely a fault on his part and for students who had been forced to go to school as usual.

"Ananda J, class X OTKP 1 continues to go to school as usual. We hope that we can solve the errors and confusion of information on social media with the spirit of equality in diversity," he said.

Although an apology has been submitted by SMKN 2 Padang, this has not softened the attitude of the Minister of Education and Culture (Mendikbud) Nadiem Makarim. He ordered the local government to impose strict sanctions and even dismiss the staff at the school who were involved in this incident.

"I ask the local government in accordance with the applicable mechanism to immediately give strict sanctions for disciplinary violations for all parties involved. Including the possibility of implementing the release of office so that this issue will become our common lesson in the future," said Nadiem as quoted from the video uploaded to the account. His official Instagram @nadiemmakarim, Sunday, January 24.

He said his ministry could no longer tolerate this kind of intolerance. The former Gojek boss even said that this coercion by the school against his students not only violated the values of Pancasila but also violated the applicable rules.

The rule that he means is Article 3 Paragraph 4 of the Minister of Education and Culture Regulation Number 45 of 2014 concerning uniforms for elementary and middle level students. Nadiem explained that in the regulation, it was stated that the school's basic clothes were regulated by each school and still paid attention to the rights of every citizen to practice their religious beliefs.

In addition, there are other regulations that it touches on, namely Article 4 Paragraph 1 of Law Number 20 of 2003 concerning the National Education System which regulates that education is carried out in a democratic, just and non-discriminatory manner and Article 55 of Law Number 39 of 1999 concerning Human Rights which mentions each children have the right to worship according to religion and think according to their intellectual level and under the guidance of their parents.

So, referring to the existing rules, the school cannot arbitrarily make rules or calls for students to dress not in accordance with their religion and beliefs.

"Schools should not at all make rules or appeals to students to use specific religious clothing models as school uniforms. Especially if they are not in accordance with the religion or beliefs of students," he said.

"The government will not tolerate teachers and principals who commit violations in the form of intolerance," he added.

The impact of identity politics is growing

Education observer Edy Suandi Hamid does not deny that this actually occurs because of the rise of identity politics towards certain groups to achieve certain desires which is also accompanied by a decline in understanding of nationality.

"It is the decline in planting nationalism and short-term political interests that often exploits identity politics," he said when contacted by VOI.

He explained that identity politics has a bad impact if it enters the educational environment, such as polarization. Things will then get worse if it spreads to the community.

So, Edy assessed that education about the principles and implementation of Pancasila values needs to be encouraged, especially which emphasizes the issue of freedom of belief and implementing the teachings of their respective religions.

Moreover, he considered that the incidence of forcing the use of the headscarf on non-Muslim students occurred because the values of Pancasila were no longer understood by the public, including those engaged in education.

"Therefore, Pancasila value education, which has been eroded since the reform era, needs to be encouraged again," he said.

Furthermore, he also assessed that the government must make clearer regulatory guidelines so that this kind of coercion does not occur anymore and educational institutions must be more inclusive.

"Apart from that, to prevent this from happening again, the regional or local government must also be given a proactive understanding so that actions that can have nuances of intolerance and force uniformity of religious symbols do not happen again," he concluded.