TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - In the wake of the alleged sexual abuse case at Jakarta International School (JIS) in South Jakarta, where a six-year-old kindergarten student was supposedly gang raped by several members of the school's cleaning staff, questions have been raised about safety at schools, in particularly at JIS, as reported by Antara News.

Many are concerned because if such an incident could take place at such a heavily fortified and therefore presumably safe environment, it could probably happen at other schools.

Education expert Arief Rachman suggested that JIS should closely monitor any abnormalities in the behavior of its students, so that it could identify potential issues quickly and could therefore offer a solution.

"The school has to be aware of any abnormalities with regards to its students' behavior so that it can recognize problems and subsequently offer assistance in solving it," said Arief.

He added that the school must put more emphasis that its teachers are responsible for the fate of all students inside the school grounds up until they leave the premises.

"The question here is, why wasn't the victim's teacher, or anyone else for that matter, aware of any abnormalities in [the victim's] behavior?" Arief said.

The rape case was made public on Monday after the victim's mother spoke to the media about her child’s alleged gang rape at the hands of at least two cleaning service workers at JIS. This case also drew criticism against the school's alleged weaknesses in its security and recruitment procedures as well as its seemingly lack of action in the case.

ANTARA