City to gain integrated rehabilitation center

JAKARTA (JP): Jakarta will soon establish an integrated rehabilitation center for drug-addicted senior high school students, an official said on Thursday.

"The integrated rehabilitation center will provide humane services under one roof for addicted students," head of the ministry of education's Jakarta office, Alwi Nurdin, told reporters at City Hall.

He said the center, whose location has yet to be decided, would carry out activities to reshape the students' physical and mental condition.

"The addicted students will first undergo a detoxification process for about three months. They will then follow with a rehabilitation process for one year and continue with vocational training for another two years," he said.

"We hope the students can return to society after they complete the rehabilitation program."

Alwi said there were 1,015 addicted students in 166 high schools from the city's total 447,000 students in 1,029 high schools.

"Our office has also conducted urine tests in 64 high schools as a screening measure," he said.

He said that a 'reward and punishment' method would be enacted to promote drug-free schools.

"We'll send compliments to drug-clean schools. But we haven't decided the sanctions to impose on schools whose students are found to be involved in drugs," he said.

Earlier on Tuesday, some 200 Jakarta-based non-governmental organizations (NGOs) announced the establishment of Konsorsium Program Pemberantasan Penyalahgunaan Narkotika, a move to organize a massive campaign against drugs. One of its programs aims to create a standard of service for all drug rehabilitation centers.

Alwi hinted that there were 137 high schools whose students were reportedly involved in street brawls.

"Forty-two schools in East Jakarta, 40 schools in Central Jakarta and 35 schools in South Jakarta are prone to student brawls. Meanwhile, West Jakarta has only 11 schools and North Jakarta has nine schools," he said.

"We have also identified 253 frequent spots for student brawls. East Jakarta has the most spots with 60 spots, South Jakarta 58 spots, Central and West Jakarta has 50 spots each and North Jakarta 35 spots," he said.

He also cited that there were 21 city bus routes which are prone to student brawls.

"Students often use the buses to transport them to attack other students," he said.

Police records show that at least 30 students died in 1999 as a result of brawls. (05)