Between news stories about vicious bullying and gang fights between students and brutal corporal punishments being meted out by teachers, some would say there’s a disturbing culture of violence in Indonesia’s schools. The latest shocking incident of such violence involves a junior high teacher in East Pontianak who has been hospitalized after allegedly getting attacked by a student she tried to discipline.
The incident took place at Darussalam Junior High (SMP) on Wednesday morning when a grade VIII teacher, Nuzul Kurniawati, was teaching a class on the history of Islamic culture. One of her students, a boy identified as NF, was playing with his cell phone during the lesson. Nuzul admonished NF and asked him to put the phone away but he ignored her.
According to the police’s account, the teacher then grabbed NF’s phone, which is when things got really bad. NF picked up a plastic chair and hit his teacher. Staggered, Nuzul then dropped the phone to the ground, which angered NF further. He picked up the gadget and then threw it at his teacher, hitting her in the neck.
After the attack, the teacher was taken to a local hospital where she is still undergoing treatment.
“The perpetrator has been summoned and given guidance, the victim’s family has also met with the perpetrator, and the perpetrator has also apologized,” SMP Darussalam principal Ahmad Bustomi told Kompas.
Despite the apology, the assault was reported to the police who are currently investigating the incident, although they have not yet questioned the teacher who is still recovering from her injuries.
This is far from the first incident of student-on-teacher violence in recent memory. Earlier this year, an art teacher in Madura, East Java, died after being hit by one of his students. The past few years have also seen stories other stories about students beating teachers and even attacking them with weapons, as well as at least one incident of a student murdering a teacher over bad grades.
