Kompas.com

The new academic year always stirs up debate on the necessity of school orientation week, which is often used by senior students as an opportunity to exert control over freshmen.

During orientation week, for example, freshmen can be required to wear embarrassing outfits. This year, for the first time, the Jakarta administration forbade seniors from bullying or degrading younger students during the orientation. However, a number of private schools still engaged in the traditional orientation rituals.

Psychologist and clinical hypnotherapist Liza Marielly Djaprie pointed out that such practices are among key factors that breed bullying in schools.

'€œFreshmen who hold grudges tend to repeat such practices once they become seniors. Without supervision from school authorities, it [bullying] will likely continue,'€ she said.

These are some of the notorious practices that still take place during school orientation weeks and club activities.

unusual requests

During school orientation week, freshmen are required to find certain paraphernalia for no apparent reason. An orientation week committee, usually comprised of sophomores and senior students, will make unusual requests like asking the freshmen to find specific or rare brands of crackers, rare coins or old newspapers. These tasks force freshmen, who sometimes ask their whole family to help, to work their socks off before the deadline.

excessive respect

'€œRule number 1: Seniors can do no wrong. And rule number 2: When they do, go back to rule number 1'€ is a common principle introduced on the first day of a school orientation week. Freshmen are required to always greet their seniors, to introduce themselves and even to collect a certain number of names and signatures from the seniors. The older students reason that the process can help familiarize rookies with the school environment and encourage them to get to know one another. However, some seniors use the opportunity to bully freshmen before giving out their signatures.

Hazing

In addition to strange paraphernalia, freshmen are not allowed to come to school looking like normal students during orientation week. Students are usually asked to wear their uniform from their previous school, making it obvious that they are newbies. Colorful ribbons such as hair accessories and funny hats made of newspaper or half-cut plastic balls are also commonly required to be worn.

Punishment

Psychological and physical harassment against freshmen is often seen during school orientation or club activities, with freshmen who violate certain rules asked to stand under the sweltering sun for hours or given other physical punishment such as push-ups and squats.

Such abusive behavior can get even worse during extracurricular outings, which usually happen off school grounds with less supervision from school authorities. Seniors reason that such methods are necessary to maintain discipline among new students.

Dinda Azalaputri, a sophomore at senior high school SMA 3 Jakarta, admitted that until last year, such practices still existed at her school, which is infamous for bullying cases. '€œBut it is such a relief that they didn'€™t do such intimidating practices anymore this year,'€ she said.

Night walks

A weird obsession about urban legends or horror stories may be behind the practice of jurit malam (night walks), in which freshmen, individually or in groups, are required to walk from one designated post to another within or outside of school buildings at midnight.

Some committee members dress like characters from horror stories or local urban legends, such as nurses or shrouded ghosts, to scare the participants. At each post, committee members require the participants to complete a certain task.

Devie Nova, who attended senior high school SMA 13 in North Jakarta, said that she undertook jurit malam when she became a member of the school'€™s flag-raising team.

'€œI agree that it can improve one'€™s mentality, but I don'€™t think it should be obligatory because not all students are mentally strong,'€ she said.

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