UNSUPERVIZED: A junior high school student paints his gang’s logo on a wall in Rawasari, West Jakarta. Lack of monitoring from teachers and parents may lead to violent acts, like fighting or bullying.

Observers say teachers are hampering a campaign to eradicate bullying at schools by failing to acknowledge the problem.

Semai Jiwa Amini Foundation (Sejiwa) chairwoman Diena Haryana said teachers refuse to acknowledge that bullying is a problem at their schools to protect their reputations.

"Many of them said that if there were any cases of violence at their schools, they were a thing of the past," she said on the sidelines of the foundation's recent national workshop on bullying.

Sejiwa, which was founded in 2004, works to raise awareness of bullying. It has held workshops in at least 200 schools nationwide.

In Jakarta, three public high schools -- No. 103 in East Jakarta, No. 82 in South Jakarta and No. 24 in Central Jakarta -- introduced Sejiwa anti-bullying projects in September last year. However, only the high schools in East Jakarta and South Jakarta are still actively pursuing the program.

Diena said many teachers regard violence as an inevitable part of discipline, as a consequence of which they view bullying as ordinary.

Psychologist Ratna Djuwita from the University of Indonesia, who conducted a two-month study this year on bullying behavior at schools for Sejiwa and Plan International, ran into resistance in carrying out her research.

"It was not easy to get schools involved in our research because they fear that admitting to the existence of bullying will harm their reputation," she said.

Ratna studied bullying at nine elementary schools, seven junior high schools and 10 high schools in Jakarta, Yogyakarta and Surabaya.

The research, which involved about 1,500 people, including students, teachers and principals, found that 67 percent respondents acknowledged bullying existed in junior and senior high schools.

Bullying covers a wide spectrum of violence, which includes psychological, verbal and physical actions.

Ratna said any action that causes someone to feel uncomfortable could be regarded as bullying.

According to the study, authoritarian teachers and parents, the tradition of school hazing and violent television programs all contributed to the problem of bullying.

"Children with authoritarian parents usually bully others as an expression of their frustration or anger," Ratna said.

Chairwoman of the Anti-Bullying Teachers Community, M. Endang, said alumni and older students help preserve a tradition of bullying in schools, particularly in hazing first-year students during "welcome" ceremonies.

Lack of official control over these ceremonies allows bullying to flourish, she said.

"That's why we teachers are trying to get directly involved in these ceremonies," said Endang, who teaches at state high school No. 82 in South Jakarta.

The vice principal of state high school No. 103 in East Jakarta, Budi Muntoro, said bullying also frequently occurred at events to "welcome" new students to extracurricular clubs.

He said his school was trying to minimize the role of older students and alumni in these events, in order to put an end to bullying.

Asked if older or former students supported these efforts, Budi said some had expressed disappointment that what they saw as school traditions were being changed.

"They often say, 'Why should the new students get in easily, when we did not'. So, revenge is still part of their mind-set," he said.

Budi, who used to be known as a "killer" teacher for his penchant for spanking students, acknowledged he still found it difficult not to revert to corporal punishment.

"I am still learning to control myself," he said.

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