Many schools in Indonesia still enforce a ranking system for students, in which budding learners compete for the top spot in their class every term based on exam scores and academic performance. One recent video that has gone viral has put the spotlight on the unnecessary pressure such a system could place on a young child — even those who are still in elementary school.
Over the weekend, one mother in Berau, East Kalimantan filmed herself berating her young daughter, who was still in her school uniform, after receiving her report card and learned that she ranked third in her class.
While coming third in a class of dozens is a respectable achievement for most people, the mother was extremely displeased that her daughter did not top her class.
“Why did you only rank third?! Why? Why?” the mother screamed at her crying daughter in the video.
After the video went viral and attracted huge backlash against the mother, she went to her daughter’s school to apologize to the teachers and the public.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgUlL21wZRU
“It was my mistake. I want to apologize to all involved, such as the school principal, my daughter’s teacher. I had no intention to make the video go viral,” she said.
The Ministry of Education and Culture said that with the current ranking system in schools, many parents pressure their children to top their class, often for bragging rights.
“They want to achieve the status of successful or great parents,” the ministry’s spokesman Ade Erlangga told Detik.
Ade added that the ministry has begun working to change the general mindset toward education in the country, which currently puts excessive focus on academic achievements, starting with the abolishment of the national exam in 2021.
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