BULLYING IN BOARDING SCHOOLS

Bullying, which also called seniority, and boarding school are like two sides of a coin. They have always been a trend topic in every age.

Due to the frequent occurrence of it in the public, most people end up believing that the boarding school menu is incomplete without bullying. In some schools, bullying has been mentioned since the Student Orientation Period (MOS) which some of junior students argued that their senior are very rude in orientation period.

In some other boarding schools, bullying and seniority is often found in applying the system of punishment through the 'Student Court' by the student organization at the school. This court is usually enforced because of many mistakes made by juniors and they have been warned several times before. To provide a deterrent effect, the court is held. The punishments given are varied, like : memorizing some vocabulary in a foreign language or in scientific terms, memorizing long surah with certain time limits, creating essays or scientific articles, physical punishment; such as push-up, cleaning public toilets, dormitory rides, skull gymnastics (as the defendant must stand with his arms extended for a dozen minutes without moving), etc.

If we return to the time before the year of 2000, some punishments cannot be said as violence because the punishments were even given directly by the teachers whom we deeply respect to make us remember that we had made a mistake. When the mistake was repeated, we had to be ready with the risks faced.

Another story was happened in ‘Rumoh Beut’ with our Teungku (teachers). When we were escorted to be taught, our parents leave us to be educated in a subtle and rough way. Weather with warning words or caned  by rattan (awe) which has become an icon of Rumoh Beut. That way, a sense of reluctance to our Teungku, and the wish not to make mistakes is clearly embedded in the minds of every student who were studying the knowledge of the afterlife.

However, as the time passed by and the more information people got , things like I mentioned before have now been regarded as a human rights violation. All issues of violence have been legally monitored, so that the death-ending cases of violence such as those in military schools and other cadets are no longer repeated in other boarding schools.

The protection of human rights which is the right of all Indonesian citizens as stated in the 1945 Constitution article 28 paragraph 2 and also in second pillar of Pancasila which is now completely implemented by all levels of society, should make us relieved. It means none of Indonesian would be allowed to be treated bad ways.