Balinese teens flooded the island’s streets on Thursday, celebrating the release of high school and vocational school graduation results.
Teens wearing their uniforms marked up with signatures and notes from their classmates, yearbook style, rode their scooters in convoys around the island, clogging up traffic and cheering about their success with passing secondary school.
Trying to keep traffic smooth and orderly, police stepped in to stop the convoys and “punish” students by forcing them to do physical exercises like pushups and squats.
In addition to the convoys being plain old disorderly, police also recorded a number of traffic violations, which there were more serious repercussions for, says Denpasar Traffic Police Comr. Selamet.
“In the graduation convoys, students were largely disregarding riding safety, such as not wearing helmets, riding bikes with three passengers, loudly revving their engines, and not equipping their vehicles with official documents. For which we were firm and ticketed them on,” he said.
Things apparently got out of hand though with all the motorbikes and rowdy teens, with at least three students throughout the province reportedly getting injured, sustaining broken bones.
“Yes, there are three incoming patients from accidents,” said Dr. Bagus Darmasaya, speaking on Thursday, on behalf of Bali Mandara Hospital, as quoted by Antara.
According to the doctor, one accident involving a broken bone occurred during a convoy in the Serangan.
Another patient was a high school student in Denpasar who broke his finger and had to undergo surgery.
The Bali Provincial Education Department say that it regrets the graduation convoys of high school and vocational school students that led to such injuries.
The department says it has now instructed principals to prohibit their students from celebrating graduation in a way that would “disturb public order.”
“Better they pray together at school,” department head Tjokorda Istri Agung said in Denpasar, as quoted by Liputan6.
“We regret (the convoys) but they are beyond the limits of our supervision. For the future, the role of parents is very much needed to continue to provide mentoring to students,” Agung said.
