High school in Indonesia carries out surprise pregnancy test on all its female students to prevent childbirth in school

Photo illustration.
Photo illustration.

There have been numerous cases in Indonesia in which women’s privacy rights are blatantly disregarded in the face of patriarchal ideals about sexuality, such as virginity tests for women who want to enter the police force or the military (because a woman’s virginity apparently determines her morality and whether or not she is fit to serve, yet there are no virginity tests for male recruits).

Indonesian schools are now amongst the offenders, as privacy rights get trampled in the name of policing their female students’ morality.  Last Thursday, one unnamed high school (SMA) in the Bangka-Belitung province of West Bangka, carried out a surprise pregnancy test on all its female students because they didn’t want their students to give birth in the vicinity of the school.

“The pregnancy test on the pupils was carried out in light of a case in which one high school student in the Belinyu district gave birth to her child at school. After we heard the news in Belinyu, we immediately carried out pregnancy tests for all our female students,” said the school’s principal, as quoted by Tribun yesterday.

One student at the school confirmed that they were made to take the test.

“All girls here were tested, they told us to urinate and take the sample. When we were taking our urine samples, our teacher guarded the toilet door so that if we were to swap our samples, we would get found out,” said the student, who was identified by her initials ZK.

“They provided the pregnancy test tool, I don’t know what it’s called. As a student I wholeheartedly agree with the way our teachers carry out the pregnancy test.”

One girl at the school was found to be pregnant during the test. The school did not tell the media what steps would be taken towards her or whether she would face expulsion.

Pregnancy tests in schools are rare in Indonesia, at least in terms of those that are reported by the media. However, in July, one vocational school (SMK) in Pangandaran, West Java, made pregnancy test an entry requirement for students graduating from middle school (SMP). One student was mistakenly deemed pregnant (a subsequent test later revealed that she was actually a virgin) and was turned down from the school, causing her to become extremely embarrassed and depressed.



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