T

he mother of a three-year-old toddler reported a female teacher from a private preschool in North Jakarta to the Jakarta Police on Tuesday for sexual abuse.

The toddler'€™s mother, identified only as BL, made the allegations about her son'€™s teacher, identified as S, after the boy complained of pain in his rectum last month, which he said was caused by the teacher.

'€œOn April 29, my son informed me that his rectum was hurt and he refused to go to school, so I asked why,'€ BL told reporters after filing the report.

Her son, she said, admitted that S had forcefully removed his trousers and poked her finger into his anus several times when they were together in an empty classroom. Angered by the report, BL then took her son to Ciptomangunkusumo Hospital, Central Jakarta, for a medical examination.

'€œBased on the examination results, his rectum has indeed been injured by a blunt object multiple times,'€ she said.

'€œI enrolled my son at the preschool because I trusted the school and its teachers. How could a female teacher, who my son viewed as a second mother, do this to him?'€ she said, adding that her nine-year-old older son also attended the school.

BL said that, before reporting the issue to the police, she tried confronting the school'€™s officials regarding the case. However, BL said that the school was uncooperative and denied that any of its teachers would have had a chance to be alone in a room with a student.

BL then reported S to the North Jakarta Police on April 30. However, BL said the North Jakarta Police had yet to process the report she filed last Tuesday, prompting her to bring the case to the City Police Headquarters.

Meanwhile, BL'€™s lawyer, Yayat, said that the toddler had complained to his mother of pain in his rectum several times over the past six months. However, BL did not suspect sexual harassment.

'€œThere is the possibility that S had harassed the boy for six months,'€ Yayat said.

A series of cases of child molestation perpetrated by school employees on school grounds has been exposed to the public recently, sparking concern among parents.

The mother of a six-year-old kindergarten student at the prestigious Jakarta International School (JIS) last month reported an alleged rape believed to have been committed by several outsourced cleaning staff in at bathroom at the school.

Separately in Bogor, West Java, a teacher and therapist identified as Kosim bin Junaedi has been accused of raping nine female elementary school students aged between nine and 13, four of whom reportedly suffer from learning difficulties.

According to Bogor Police head Adj. Sr. Comr. Bahtiar Ujang Purnama, physical examinations of the girls showed that eight had torn hymens, while another had genital injuries.

Kosim, who was employed to provide psychological therapy for students with special needs, was allegedly caught red-handed by another teacher and was immediately arrested and questioned by the police.

With the increasing public exposure of child abuse and molestation issues, the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) has repeatedly called for cooperation among relevant stakeholders to stop violence against children. (dwa)