Working group established to prevent student brawls

JAKARTA (JP): A number of sociologists, psychologists and experts from related disciplines have set up a working group to help solve the escalating numbers of student brawls and other juvenile delinquency in the capital, an official said.

Head of the Jakarta office of the Ministry of Education and Culture Alwi Nurdin said on Tuesday that the working group was established on the previous day in response to the recent outbreak of offenses attributed to the city's students.

"The escalating criminal offenses of the students, ranging from brawls to looting have become critical problems within society here," Alwi told media after a handover ceremony of educational aid from the Chinese government at his office in South Jakarta.

The group, he added, "is currently in the process of identifying the problems and formulating its action plan."

Prior to the establishment of the working group, the ministry's office had also cooperated with the city police and military headquarters to regularly patrol spots labeled those most prone to such student misdemeanors, Alwi said.

The working group, chaired by Enoch Markhum, former director for student affairs of the ministry, is designed as a pilot project in the country to deal with these seemingly endless problems.

"The ministry will later arrange similar groups in other provinces.

In the past few weeks the capital has hardly passed a single day without at least one student brawl.

Many efforts had been made by the city authorities, including seminars and raids. But none of these initiatives has been sufficient to stop the students, who often used sharp weapons in the street duels.

According to Alwi, this brawling usually involved students coming from low-income groups.

"There are three factors which make students involve themselves in such troubled behavior: family disharmony, school conditions and the environment," he said.

Worsening economic conditions triggered greater problems, he added.

"Many parents got laid off and have to strive to put food on the table. Of course it affected family life along with declining norms and values.

"In many schools here, teachers are also probably more concerned about looking for extra money and many of them have abandoned the students' moral and character building," Alwi said.

Each of the factors has contributed to the problems, which should be dealt with soon by members of the working group, he explained.

During the handover ceremony of the educational aid packages, Chinese Ambassador Chen Shiqiu symbolically presented the US$4,000 worth of science kits and 10 typewriters to Minister of Education and Culture Juwono Sudarsono.

The packages are to be distributed to 30 elementary schools in Jakarta. (edt)