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Students reportedly dismissed from school after joining protests
At least 15 cases were recorded of students being suspended, given warning letters and threatened for joining the protests.
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Police fire tear gas at students rallying in front of the legislative complex in Central Jakarta on Sept. 24. The protest took a chaotic turn in the late afternoon. (JP/Seto Wardhana)
D
ozens of high school students have reportedly faced academic sanctions, with some being forced out of school, after participating in recent rallies in several cities to protest against several controversial bills, according to a team of human rights activists and lawyers.
Through a center set up specifically to receive public complaints, the activists and lawyers recorded 72 complaints filed by university and senior high school students across the country as of Oct. 11.
The center was opened on Sept. 29, five days after the first rally took place outside the House of Representatives building in Senayan, Jakarta.
The center, initiated by law firm AMAR, aimed to record cases of prohibition, intimidation and sanctions faced by students for joining the recent protests dubbed #reformasidikorupsi (reform being corrupted) that took place between Sept. 24 and Sept. 30. The complaints, deemed violations of the students’ right to freedom of expression and education, were recorded online and by phone and were then verified by the team.
“There were three senior high school students who [were forced to] drop out, two in Tangerang and one in Bogor. One of them was kicked out of school, while the other two were asked to sign dismissal or school transfer letters,” one of the team’s representatives, human rights lawyer Jane Aileen Tedjaseputra, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
At least 15 cases were recorded of students being suspended, given warning letters and threatened for joining the protests. Jane, however, noted that the number of cases was not equivalent to the number of victims, as each case being reported could involve more than one victim.
The complaints were recorded from across 15 provinces in the country, with 38 reported cases involving 37 universities and the remaining 34 involving 32 senior and vocational high schools.
