Problematic pupils at 50 city high schools: Study

JAKARTA (JP): Students of at least 50 of the 600 senior high schools in the capital, have been branded as problematic because they had engaged in brawls more than twice this year, a study says.

Quoting an ongoing study by the city's public order office, City Councilor Romulus Sihombing of the city administration Commission, said the number of such schools might increase by the end of the year.

The Commission chairman, M. Anan, revealed that 69 of 116 technical schools alone were involved in brawls last year, and that 12 students were killed in 215 brawls.

The findings were revealed yesterday after a hearing between the Commission and the public order office staff.

However, the head of the office, Kusaeni Budiantoro, declined to talk to reporters. The study was conducted in cooperation with Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University.

Councilors also declined to comment on the revelations by one of the researchers, Riswandha Imawan, that a number of students confessed to having been paid for starting brawls. The payment, was by parties interested in buying schools. This could be made easier if the area was judged unsuitable for studying activities, he said.

"We would need to seek further proof," Anan said, "But even without such influences these youngsters can be easily persuaded to go brawling."

Anan said that the figures showed Central Jakarta ranked highest with 35 brawls last year, followed by South Jakarta with 15.

The study also found that Wednesdays, with 24 brawls last year, were the most popular day of the week for brawling, followed by Thursdays, with 14.

"Maybe because the police guard schools on Fridays and Saturdays, which are thought to be the best days for brawls. So the students fight on other days," Anan said.

Most brawls happened when students leave school, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., the study found.

Anan said the meeting had repeated earlier recommendations to overcome brawls, such as enhancing school facilities like sports grounds.

Schools frequently involved in brawls often lack sports grounds.

"The students take their energy out into the streets," Anan said.

He said a 10-day course for delinquent students, which was started in the 1970s in Cibubur, managed by the city's social and political directorate under the Ministry of Home Affairs, should be continued.

Last year's military schools proved ineffective as teachers of delinquents were brought in to teach their own students. "Sometimes teachers found they came to only teach four boys," Anan said.

Romulus, representing the Indonesian Democratic Party faction, said the faction recommended that a quarter of the city's budget should be allocated for education.

This includes paying higher wages to teachers, often criticized for failing to control students. (anr)