TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Your letters: Schools need better recruitment
After hearing the terrible news in the past few days about child abuse at Jakarta International School (JIS), the question is whether these expensive schools are actually safe for our children to go to
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
A
fter hearing the terrible news in the past few days about child abuse at Jakarta International School (JIS), the question is whether these expensive schools are actually safe for our children to go to. The case involving JIS has been going on for more than a week and the suicide of an alleged offender recently has deepened the whole story.
What is really going on in school these days? Are the pupils actually getting their education right? There are so many cases of child abuse and improper conduct by teachers and staff it makes us think what the children are really getting out of it. These children are supposed to go to school to have fun and learn about what they want to be when they grow up, but pressure on school safety simply pushes that point aside.
It's understandable that parents enroll their children in international schools so that they can get the best education for them, and it's true. In international schools they think that their children learn more than those in public schools.
I myself went to an international school for nine years and I did have a great time. Within that time I learned more than what I thought I could learn.
Everything was fine but just as I left the school in my final year, I was shocked to learn that my former English department head had been arrested in Istanbul for possession of child pornography.
I think that international schools should have a better selection process for their teachers, especially in developing countries, where if you happen to come from an English-speaking country it seems so easy to become an English-speaking teacher. The need for a private background check is very important because I do believe the schools have the resources
to do so.
Well, even though the case at JIS was committed by the outsourced staff, it is not a loss if they investigate the teachers too. Overall, it is important for the children to not worry about the school's safety and focus more on their hopes and dreams. And this is what the parents expect in such good schools, to get what they paid for.
Wahyu Anggoro Chihayanto
Jakarta
