A state high school in South Jakarta confirmed Monday it had suspended 14 seniors for their alleged involvement in the recent beating of a freshman at the school.
"We suspended *the students* as of *Monday*," said SMAN 82 principal Utar Muchtar.
He added that among those suspended were three students who had been questioned on Friday by the school management for allegedly plotting the attack.
Utar said he had also established a team to question all the suspended students and their parents before deciding on final disciplinary measures.
"We hope we can finish the entire investigation by the end of this week," Utar said, adding the harshest measure available was expulsion from the school.
Last Tuesday, 10th-grader Ade Fauzan Mahfuza, 16, had to be taken to Pertamina Hospital after dozens of seniors attacked him for crossing a "restricted" hallway in front of a classroom for 12th-graders.
Ade said he had gone down the corridor earlier in the day to pick up a book left in a classroom where he had taken a mid-term exam the day before.
During recess later in the day, he went on, he was confronted by several 12th-graders over whether he had walked down the corridor that morning. Two of them then slapped him on the face and left.
After school finished, a dozen of the seniors waited out front for Ade, where they attacked him until he lost consciousness.
Ade had to have six stitches in his mouth and sustained several injuries to his head and arms, leading his mother to report the case to the Kebayoran Baru Police.
Utar said the school management had also reported the attack to the police.
"We're trying to settle this case as fairly as possible without getting anyone sent to jail," he said.
Bullying and violence in school has become a major problem in Indonesia, particularly in big cities like Jakarta, where many schools have a strong tradition of bullying.
In 2007, a student from a state high school suffered broken bones after being beaten by seniors.
Last year, the Indonesian Commission for Child Protection received 86 reports of violence in schools, a significant drop from the 555 reports received in 2007.
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