Gov’t Issues Regulation on Violence Prevention, Handling in Education Units

Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Nadiem Makarim. (Photo by: PR of Cabinet Secretariat/Rahmat)

Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Nadiem Anwar Makarim has issued Ministerial Regulation Number 46 of 2023 on Prevention and Handling of Violence in Environment of Education Units (PPKSP).

“For the past few years, we have involved various parties to design a regulation that can prevent and handle violence in education units, which we are launching together today, namely Regulation of Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Number 46 of 2023 on Prevention and Handling of Violence in Environment of Education Units,” he said at the Launching of Emancipated Learning Episode 25 in Jakarta, Tuesday (08/08).

This Ministerial Regulation was ratified as a legal umbrella for all members of schools or education units.

It was formulated to firmly handle and prevent sexual violence, bullying, discrimination, and intolerance, as well as to assist education units in handling cases of violence, covering online, psychological, and other forms of violence with a victim perspective.

“Ministerial Regulation on PPKSP protect students, educators, and education workers from violence that occur during activities of education, both within or outside education units,” Nadiem said.

According to Nadiem, this Ministerial Regulation is an essential part of fulfilling the mandate of Laws and Government Regulations aimed at children protection.

This Ministerial Regulation replaced its predecessor, namely Regulation of Minister of Education and Culture Number 82 of 2015 on Prevention and Countermeasures of Violence in Education Units.

“This new regulation also firmly states that policies that are likely to cause violence must not exist, be it in the form of a decree, circular, official memo, appeal, instruction, guidelines, and so on,” Nadiem said.

This Ministerial Regulation also regulates the prevention mechanisms carried out by education units, regional Government, and Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, as well as the procedures for handling violence that are pro-victims and support recovery.

This Ministerial Regulation also imposes a mandate on the education units to establish a Violence Prevention and Handling Team (TPPK) and regional governments at the province, regency, and city levels to establish a Task Force.

“The TPPK and Task Force need to be established within six to 12 months following the ratification of this regulation, thus violence in education units can immediately be handled. If there is a report on violence, these working groups must take countermeasures against violence and ensure the recovery of the victim, whereas administrative sanction shall be given to student perpetrators by considering educational sanctions while still heeding the educational rights of students,” Nadiem remarked.

For the record, based on the National Assessment survey results in 2022, 34.51 percent of students are likely to experience sexual violence, 26.9 percent to experience physical punishments, and 36.31 percent to   experience bullying.

The findings are also reinforced by the results of the National Survey on Life Experience of Children and Adolescents of Ministry of Women Empowerment and Child Protection in 2021, which found that 20 percent of boys and 25.4 percent of girls between the age of 13 and 17 admitted to have experienced one type of violence or more within the past 12 months.

The data of reports received by the Indonesian Commission for Child Protection (KPAI) in 2022 also showed that the category with the highest number of reports is child victims of sexual violence, consisting of child victims of physical and/or psychological violence, as well as child victims of pornography and cybercrime at 2,133. (PR of Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology/UN) (DH/LW)