Lestari Moerdijat: Realising a Safe Educational Environment Requires Real Commitment
Efforts to realise a safe and comfortable educational environment require real commitment and concrete steps from various related parties. “A movement to realise a safe and comfortable educational environment must receive full support from related parties, including families and the community,” said Deputy Speaker of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) Lestari Moerdijat in a written statement on Monday (13/7).
The government is seeking to strengthen cross-sector collaboration in realising child-friendly pesantren and madrasah through the launch of the National Movement for Safe and Comfortable Spaces for Children (Gernas RANA) at the Al-Hamidiyah Pesantren in Depok on Sunday (12/7). The movement, launched by Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Pratikno, is expected to create an educational ecosystem that is safe, comfortable, inclusive, and free from all forms of violence against children.
This movement targets 42,000 pesantren and 80,000 madrasah across Indonesia to implement five main pillars in realising a safe and comfortable educational environment: strengthening regulations, preventing violence, providing safe facilities, establishing victim-oriented complaint services, and fostering cross-sector collaboration.
According to Lestari, a series of immediate steps to achieve the stated targets must become a shared understanding and commitment among education providers, pesantren and madrasah managers, and the community. Rerie, as Lestari is affectionately known, believes that efforts to accelerate the prevention and handling of violence in educational environments are not without reason.
Based on records from the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan), Rerie added, throughout 2025 there were 475 cases of gender-based violence in educational environments, with 972 victims. Specifically within pesantren environments, Komnas Perempuan received reports of 17 cases between 2020 and 2024. Furthermore, the Federation of Indonesian Teachers’ Unions (FSGI) also recorded an increasing trend of violence cases in educational environments, from 15 cases in 2023, rising to 36 cases in 2024, and surging to 60 cases throughout 2025.
Rerie, who is also a member of Commission X of the House of Representatives (DPR), assessed that the challenge of increasing threats of violence must be responded to immediately with appropriate anticipatory measures. According to Rerie, efforts to prevent bullying in educational environments, for example, are not sufficient with anti-violence socialisation alone. They must be balanced with active efforts to build attitudes and a culture of tolerance in schools and the community. Furthermore, she explained, prevention efforts cannot rely solely on the readiness of teaching staff, but also require the active role of the community and families in shaping children’s character from an early age.
The member of the NasDem Party High Council appreciated the Gernas RANA initiative launched by the government to realise a safe and comfortable educational environment for the nation’s future generations. However, Rerie stressed that the success of the movement depends on the strong commitment of all parties to make child protection a top priority.