Camelia Pasandaran – The National Commission on Child Protection (Komnas PA) said that the blame for a "blasphemous" video of five students dancing and praying should be put on school officials and teachers for failing to educate them properly.

"They [the school] should consult with ulema and religious figures, and study [the students'] behavior first [before declaring them blasphemous]," Seto Mulyadi, a child psychologist and chairman of the Komnas PA board of advisers, told Jakarta Globe on Thursday.

"Did they do it intentionally, or was it only a result of a religious lesson that was not optimal so these children decided to mock their religion?"

Seto said that the lack of respect for religion some say was exhibited in the video may not have been the students' fault, and instead could be blamed on the failure of teachers and parents to educate them properly. "If religious lessons are seen as a stressful burden, it can be counterproductive to the students," Seto said.

Five high school students in Tolitoli, Central Sulawesi, who recorded themselves dancing to a song by US band Maroon 5 and praying, were expelled from school and face time in juvenile detention for blaspheming religion after the video surfaced on the Internet. They were also prohibited from taking the national exam last week, which accounts for 60 percent of a student's grade to graduate high school.

The girls told police they were trying to kill time between an hours-long break from classes in the afternoon of March 9 when they made the video. The headmaster of the school, Muallimin, decided to report the students to the police after consulting with the Indonesian Ulema Council's (MUI) Tolitoli branch and the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI).

Adj. Comr. Alhajat, the Tolitoli Police chief of detectives, said that the five students were charged with tainting religion under Article 156 of the Criminal Code.

Seto said that the school had failed to acknowledge that they're just kids who can't be held responsible for the crime they've been charged with.

"They're not adults, they need guidance and correction," Seto said. "Prohibiting them from taking the national exam is a violation of the children's rights. It should be separated between the mistake that needs to be fixed and their right to a future. In this case, these children have not been convicted, so why was their right to education violated?"

Seto also said that the students have not yet been proven guilty of tainting religion, so religious groups should not criticize them.

The police should discuss the case with a diverse group of people, he said, rather than charging the students with blasphemy based on the testimony of just a few groups.

"This is a law-based nation, all considerations should be taken into account," Seto said. "The most important is the educators should reflect on their religious lessons and how they teach ethics to the students. If the teachers are grumpy, the children may dislike the lessons."

Seto said that school officials should take the blame for the video since it happened at the school property.