APSN Banner

Education watchdog: Men are also vulnerable to sexual violence in the education sector

Source
Tempo - December 29, 2024

Alfitria Nefi P, Jakarta – Indonesia's Center for Education Standards and Policy (PSKP) revealed that male students are vulnerable to becoming victims of sexual violence. This finding is based on data from the National Assessment of the Ministry of Education and Culture or Kemdikbud throughout 2022 and the results of the PSKP analysis.

"Many boys admit this," said Head of the PSKP Kemendikbudristek Irsyad Zamjani to discussion participants at Bakoel Koffie, Cikini, Central Jakarta, Friday, December 27, 2024.

Irsyad said that this was revealed when male students admitted that they had been touched in private body areas by other people, such as teachers or friends. The reference to the body part is based on the National Assessment guidelines. "Actually, conceptually, it is already included in the category of sexual harassment," he said.

According to Irsyad, cases of violence and/or sexual harassment against men tend to be underestimated because they are considered not as severe as those experienced by women. "We consider it not a case of violence or sexual harassment, but for those who experience it, it is considered sexual harassment," he said.

Irsyad said that sexual violence in the education sector is a dominant case. As many as 10 to 15 percent of students in Indonesia have experienced sexual violence. He concluded that this number is not a small number when multiplied by the number of schools in Indonesia.

"Although not all students experience it, there are students who experience it in certain schools," said Irsyad.

Irsyad said that cases of sexual violence also have implications for the quality of students' learning outcomes. "Children who are safer from violence have better learning outcomes," he said.

Irsyad said that sexual violence against women and men is a shared note. He also encouraged schools to have adequate sexual violence handling programs. "There are already some, but the good ones are still quite few," he said.

Meanwhile, the National Coordinator of the Indonesian Education Monitoring Network (JPPI) Ubaid Matraji assessed that patriarchal culture plays a role in perpetuating sexual violence in the education sector. "Patriarchy or unequal power relations greatly contribute to the rampant cases of violence," he said.

Throughout 2024, said Ubaid, there were around 42 percent of reports of sexual violence that entered the complaint channel facilitated by JPPI. This figure makes sexual violence the most dominant case in the education sector.

Victims of sexual violence are dominated by women with a number reaching 97 percent, while men are 3 percent. Ubaid assessed that the rampant cases of sexual violence were caused by a patriarchal culture that considers women as helpless and afraid to report. He assessed that cases of sexual violence would be difficult to decrease because the patriarchal culture is still embedded.

"The patriarchal culture is still quite strong, so in 2025 there will be no change in data on cases of sexual violence," he said.

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/1957944/education-watchdog-men-are-also-vulnerable-to-sexual-violence-in-the-education-secto

Country