VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Jakarta. Minister of Education and Culture, Nadiem Anwar Makarim, has announced that his ministry will institute a mechanism for reporting sexual harassment online.

“At this moment, we are preparing a reporting system for sexual harassment. All will be conducted online and of course, confidentiality will be strictly secured. Do not let reporters become the victims since they are labelled with a negative stigma by the public due to leaked reports,” Makarim stated during an online discussion on ‘Intimate Conversations with Youth who Struggle to be Equal with Minister’, here on Tuesday.

He emphasized that such protection is very important. The minister said he will also form an independent board that will not be appointed internally by colleges, but it will handle sexual harassment at colleges.

“The most important thing is students’ participation in acting like policemen. The ministry will provide support by opening varied reporting channels, so the cases do not (get) stuck at the higher education level, but will be followed up at the ministerial level,” he informed.

In the near future, the ministry will issue a ministerial regulation pertaining to sexual harassment, which will lay down a reporting mechanism, checks and balances, students’ participation, enforcement, public campaigns regarding dos and don’ts, and strict penalties, he added.

“This is basic improvement of Pelajar Pancasila, and it has to be ingrained. The ones who become the backbones of morality are teachers and students,” he remarked.

He then highlighted three educational sins -- intolerance, sexual harassment, and bullying, and said they are symptoms of a moral crisis. Learning independence can be constantly obtained if the educational world is also free from those three sins, he added.  (Antaranews)