Devy Ernis, Jakarta – Expert Council of the Indonesian Teachers Union Federation (FSGI) Retno Lisyarti urged all schools in Indonesia to form a team on prevention and management against juvenile violence (PPK).
"One of the measures to be conducted by schools is to form a PPK team at least six months since the Ministry Regulation No. 46 of 2023 came into effect in August," she said when called by Antara on Monday in Jakarta.
Retno referred to the Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Regulation No. 46 of 2023 concerning the Prevention and Management of Violence in Educational Institutions.
According to Retno, the regulation is a system to prevent and manage violence arising in and outside of school involving children enrolled in the schools.
"PPK team members are the representatives of the teachers or educators and representatives of the school committee as well as the parents of the children," Retno added.
The regulation mandated schools to collaborate with the regional governments to manage juvenile violence that occurs in educational institutions.
Meanwhile, the regional governments are obliged to form a task force of PPK consisting of representatives from the provincial, regency, or city education office, women empowerment and children protection office, social affairs office, and the health office. "The task force's main purpose is to support the PPK team at schools to prevent and manage [juvenile] violence," Retno said."If psychological assistance is needed, local PPA offices will support the victims, witnesses, and perpetrators in accordance with the ministry regulation," Retno added.
The PPK teams will not focus solely on bullying cases but also manage instances of sexual harassment and intolerance at school.
The Indonesian Commission on Children Protection (KPAI) recorded 141 cases of physical or psychological violence on children from the January to September 2023 period. Those include 104 cases of violence including physical fights, 31 cases of psychological torment, and 6 cases of children killed in juvenile homicide.