Nurfika Osman, Jakarta – Child rights non-governmental organization Plan International and the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) on Thursday released a shocking report saying that seven out of 10 children in Asia experience violence at school, with Indonesia scoring at an alarming rate of 84 percent.
The violence included physical and sexual abuse, emotional violence and the threat of violence, perpetrated by teachers, school staff, among students themselves and by family members.
"Every child has the right to a quality education, free from violence and the threat of violence. Plan is committed to working with educators, governments, parents and students to enact recommendations in this report, and to start to make sure that everyone knows that violence has no place anywhere in a child's life," Mark Pierce, Plan International regional director for Asia, said Thursday.
According to Plan International Indonesia communication specialist Irsyad Hadi, the report in Indonesia was based on a study involving 1,742 students, both boys and girls, aged between 12 and 15 in 30 government-run junior high schools across Jakarta and Serang, Banten, from January to March 2014 through quantitative and qualitative studies.
In line with Pierce, Irsyad said that Plan in Indonesia was committed to working with the government, schools and communities to help combat violence against children by running a number of programs, such as the School Improvement Program (SIP) and Community-Based Child Protection (CBCP), in the country.
CBCP, for instance, has encouraged the local governments and communities in 235 villages in Indonesia to establish a Village Child Protection Group (KPAD) as an integrated forum to better enhance child protection.
The villages are located in eight regencies, including Timor Tengah Selatan regency in East Nusa Tenggara and Rembang regency in Central Java, and in Surabaya in East Java.
In addition, Pierce said that most of the children did not report the violence since they did not regard it as wrong.
Thus, he said, the report included specific recommendations, such as school-based programming, to change behavior and attitudes regarding gender and violence, the establishment of services to improve child protection, and the enactment of policies and laws to enforce regulations abolishing violence against children.