An Education To Die For

[macvert]

Recently our 17 year old attended School Orientation Day & onarrival at school all students were made to run around the basketballcourt in mandatory uniform of long pants & shirt before having toMarch in front oa a police presence of half a dozen officers. Allstudents then had to stand in the sun for 2 hours while the police &teachers took shelter in shade.


The outcome was that about 20 students collapsed, our boy being 1of them & from the goodness of the teachers hearts the studentswho collapsed were put in a shaded position until the end ofproceedings before being sent home & at no time were any of theparents contacted..


Our boy rode his bicycle home & lay on his bed. The next weknew he was crying for help & only able to utter the word “Ma”.


He spent the next 10 days in hospital & was very very luckynot to have suffered brain damage or die. Thank God or whoever hewill make a full recovery only losing weight & suffering a stiffback from having fluid drained from his spine.


I am reliably informed that this atrocious behaviour by schoolstoward students is rife throughout Indonesia & there is nothinganyone can do about it. Consequently my attitude toward Indonesianschools is 1 of even more distain & contempt than previous.


I was in Australia at the time & at the mercy of theIndonesian Consulate & Australia Post snail mail who had my visaapplication & passport for a period.longer than usual whichforced me to twice reshedule my return flight to Indonesia.


Were I to confront any teacher or headmaster etc. over this matterI feel that especially because I am a bule it would only serve tohave a detrimental effect on their attitude toward our boy & his(apparent) education because that is the way control freaks think.


It would be interesting to know if there are any statisticsavailable on how many kids have suffered brain damage or died atschool in Indonesia but then again I would think not because it wouldall be just be swept under the carpet & denied.

[macvert]

Sorry about some of the words being joined together, this usually happens when I cut & paste but now for some reason I am unable to edit.

[bad_azz]

Take him out of the school and home school him- no kids should have to suffer that kind of abuse.
Use the school fees to pay tutors.

If that were me I would have been down the school and kicked the shit out of the principal.

[bad_azz]

Also, name and shame the school here so that others can avoid it.

The schools need the funds- if people vote with their feet then the schools can't function.

[jimmi james]

Jaysus fecking 'ell.

local school, no doubt?

Not on at all. Start by giving them the hospital bill and report them to the police for child abuse. Report the damn police officers involved too!

[jimmi james]

And get your kid out of that an school.

[bad_azz]

Would reporting to the cops work? Considering they were the audience apparently?

[lantern]

Jaysus fecking 'ell.local school, no doubt? Not on at all. Start by giving them the hospital bill and report them to the police for child abuse. Report the damn police officers involved too!

And sue them for $125 million.

[jimmi james]

Would reporting to the cops work? Considering they were the audience apparently?

Create the paper work trail. If the local branch will not report them upwards. And keep going until you get a result.

[LittleMonster]

Hmm I thought "orientation" was already banned? My cousin was put in orientation thingy also when she was entering uni. At some point, when the senior asked to do something very ridiculous/weird/mean, she just stood up and said "NO". There was nothing they could do. I think you all should tell your kids not to be afraid to say NO and walk out, if they ask them to do something stupid/pointless/mean etc. Better than ending up in hospital

[thediamond]

F*ck Indonesian Orientation School. It's un-educated!

Maybe write something on blog or international newspaper, and the ministry of education will start to think about it. Or just will give a lame excuse like the ministry of forest gave.

[whatever]

mac, really sorry to hear that. Wish your son healed and get better soon. Kasian
I agree with the others, do something. Write to a newspaper (printed or online), spread the name of the school and everything in details.
Don't forget online media such as FB and forums like this.

[macvert]

Home schooling isn't really an option for us as things stand, wetook him out of the local public school for several reasons, 1. theirpathetic excuse for an education, 2. he had no friends where we live& 3. he had become increasingly addicted to facebook &wandering around like a lost soul & annoying his younger sisters.


He is now in this private school (yes private school) in Denpasar& staying at the Savation Aemy Orphanage which he really likes &has many friends. I have inspected the orphanage & it is a niceplace with good facilities & good people running the show, whohelped my wife enormously when he was in hospital & I was stuckin Australia so absolutely no problems there.
Other boys from the orphanage (which does not only house orphans)go to the same school which at least has definite job opportunitieswhen he finishes & that is the main reason we enrolled him there.


We were lucky that our medical insurance covered all his medicalbills.


I have encouraged my wife to contact other parents whose kids wereeffected & form a plan of action, I feel my personal hands arerelatively tied being a bule & I don't want to make matters worsebecause of that fact, I'll just hang in the background.


Ya, I've imagined many ways of extracting the shit from theheadmaster but I think I'm just dreaming …. lol


We have a doctors certificate stating that he can no longer takepart in any of these kinds of activities & will put it to gooduse & also drummed it into his head to always carry water toschool.


Really, Orientation day banned? ….. my wife told me about UniOrientation Day & I said the same,... just flatly refuse.


Good ideas about spreading the word through media I think thatshould be a major part of the combined parents action plan &hopefully we can get something off the ground off the ground.


Maybe I'm sounding a bit lame myself at the moment but honestlyI'm worn out after doing the raging tiger act for a couple of weeks…..

[akubrahat]

mate....seriously, this is a terrible story. How horrible for you and family.

You didn't ask for advice , but of if were you I would stop mucking around and get the wife and kids to Australia. No where is perfect but he will get free school, any bullying issues the school has to sort out, and he can probably get a decent job after. So many of my friends are trying to stick it out here with corrupt immigration, monthly visa runs, school issues and no job prospects. Get a job with Kitas in country when you can and come back on a good basis. Better medical care for the wife too.

I feel for you no anyway, best of luck. Hard times for lots of Indo married expats right now.

[naughtygab]

so sorry to hear what happen with your son. orientation day at school should have been banned long time ago. but seems as people restart it again and thought it was fun they re-do it again without considering how far could they go and what's the limit. talking to the head master would be the first thing to do, to avoid any further torture. orientation day was supposed to make the newbies understand the rules of the school, know their place, classes, teachers and seniors. it could have been done in a more positive way ..i hate orientation day.. thank god i was naughty enough to managed skipping all orientation days at school and university .