Managing Student Brawls Requires Family and Community Involvement

Jakarta Education Department Head Nahdiana stated that student brawl issues cannot be solely blamed on schools. Child supervision must be a collective effort involving active roles from families, communities, and media.

According to Nahdiana, most brawls occur outside school hours, meaning the solution cannot rely on a single institution.

“If a brawl happens at 6 PM, that means the child is already home. Everyone shares responsibility,” Nahdiana said at the Jakarta Regional House of Representatives on Monday (25 May).

The Jakarta Education Department is currently coordinating various educational and social elements to ensure children do not have unstructured free time that could lead to negative behaviour.

Nahdiana explained that supervision must be interconnected and integrated from home, school, to residential areas. Residents are urged to be more vigilant and actively question children loitering during high-risk hours. “For example, when a child goes out, the neighbourhood should ask ‘where are you going?’ at least to make him think twice,” she said.

Through synergy and involvement of all parties, child supervision is expected to be significantly more effective. “If we orchestrate this well, our children will have no empty spaces or gaps,” Nahdiana added.

Shared Responsibility

Nahdiana lamented the societal tendency to immediately blame schools whenever students are involved in brawls, stressing that character building is a collective responsibility.

She hopes society will address the root causes more broadly, rather than solely focusing on formal educational institutions.

“If asked about parents, neighbourhood, and school, everyone would care,” she concluded.