TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama has threatened to dismiss teachers who let students bully their peers at school. Ahok explained teachers were supposed to be the ones detecting strange behaviors of students besides their parents.
“Lower their ranks, if it [the negligence] continues, just sack them,” Basuki said at the City Hall on Wednesday, September 3, 2014.
Ahok made the decision following the deaths of two students of state high school SMA 3, Arfiand Caesary Al-Irhamy and Padian Prawiryo Dirya, both sixteen-year-old, of apparent violence when joining training on Mount Tangkuban Perahu from June 12-20, 2014.
Ahok also called on school managements to immediately dismiss students who were caught bullying their peers at school and gave the empty spots to other teenagers in the capital, given the high number of teenagers aged 16-18 who dropped out of school due to financial constraints.
“It’s better to give their chairs to those who really want to go to school,” he said.
Earlier, Arfiand’s parents came to the City Hall to meet with the deputy governor, asking him to stop and avert all kinds of bullying at school in light of their son’s death.
“We hope that there will be immediate actions against bullying cases at school,” said Arfiand’s mother Diana Dewi, who came to the City Hall with her husband, Arief Setiady.
LINDA HAIRANI
