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espite a recent sexual abuse case that occurred at state elementary school SD O2 Cipayung in East Jakarta, some parents who have children at the school are still clueless about how to educate their children about sex.

Sumirah, one of the parents, said she was aware of the abuse case as a number of the victims'€™ parents came to the school, demanding justice for the five students, who allegedly fell victim to a 53-year-old male teacher.

She said she was worried about the safety of her 11-year-old son, but had no idea how to warn him about such crimes.

'€œI just told him to only enter his classroom in the presence of his friends. I told him to avoid being alone in his class,'€ she told The Jakarta Post recently, adding that she had also told several of her son'€™s classmates the same thing.

However, Sumirah said she did not know what to say when the kids asked her the reason behind her advice, reiterating only that they should not be alone in their classroom.

Purwati, another parent of a female student who studies at the same school complex, was not even aware of the abuse case.

Recently, parents of five female students filed a report with the National Commission on Child Protection (Komnas PA) for alleged cases of sexual abuse that were believed to have been committed by a teacher identified only as J. The commission later assisted the parents in pressing charges against J with the help of the East Jakarta Police. To date, however, the police have not named J a suspect.

Parental communication specialist Hana Yasmira said research showed that children who are taught about sexual abuse by their parents have a lower risk of being abused.

'€œHowever, many parents still don'€™t know how to talk about sexual abuse with their children. Most of them are worried that their children will become more curious and ask questions that they cannot answer,'€ said the author of Right from the Start, a guidebook for parents on sex education for kids.

Hana said that parents should talk about sexual abuse in a clear way, not in a mysterious way. Children, she said, would be more curious if told something in an unclear way.

'€œParents need to tell children in a way appropriate to their age and understanding. Those under five can be taught not to pee in public because others can see their private parts. Private parts are those covered by swimming suits and nobody can touch them except their moms because they are like eye balls and they are fragile,'€ she said.

Parents can teach their children about good and bad touching, things that can or cannot go into their mouths and how to say '€œno'€ to bad requests, she said.

The Jakarta Police have warned that most perpetrators of child abuse, including sexual abuse, are people who know the victims well. In 2014, the unit processed nine cases of rape and 15 molestations out of 31 child abuse reports. Most sexual abuse suspects were people who were close to the victims, such as their boyfriends, fathers, step fathers, uncles, neighbors and teachers.

Despite a number of sexual abuse cases against children in the capital city during the past years, the Jakarta Education Agency has not obliged schools to offer sex education to students or raise awareness on sexual abuse.

'€œWe do not have any plans to make education on sexual abuse compulsory,'€ head of the Jakarta Education Agency Arie Budhiman told the Post.

In the wake of the recent case in Cipayung, he said he had asked all schools in the capital to prevent sexual abuse from happening again by sending caution letters to school principals to warn them about sexual deviations that could happen in school.

'€œSchools should also involve students in discussions about sexual abuse with appropriate materials in an appropriate way,'€ he said.

However, open discussions about sexual abuse cases may still be far from reality. A number of teachers at SD O2 Cipayung were reluctant to talk about the case, refusing to comment when the Post visited the teachers'€™ room at the school recently. (rbk)