Students Failed Grade After Their Parents Feud with the Principal

TheIndonesia.co - Two students in North Tapanuli, North Sumatra, are forced to move down one grade in school after the parents of the siblings refused to vote the principal’s husband in the village head election.

The two students, 12-year-old R and 10-year-old W, were in sixth and fourth grade, respectively, in a school in Parmonangan District.

A representative for legal aid involved in the case said both students faced intimidation after their parents refused to vote the husband of the school's principal in a village head election.

“R and W both suffer intimidation and are forced to move down their current grades because their parents weren’t going to vote the principal’s husband in the coming election. R was in sixth grade and forced to move to second grade. It happened as well with W, who was in fourth grade and forced to move to second grade,” director of LBH Sekolah Jakarta Roder Nababan said on Monday.

The two students were also reported to receive threats to be expelled from school after the principal, JS, found their father supporting another candidate.

The incident has been reported to Unit I of North Sumatra Regional Police as a crime of threatening children as regulated in Law No. 23/2002 on Child Protection.

Nababan said the case must be resolved by law enforcers as, according to the victims and their family, the two kids are now deeply traumatized due to abuse of power shown by the principal. He added that the students will continue the learning activities in their new grade for a month, and they have been doing so for the past week.

Head of North Tapanuli’s education office Bontor Hutasoit said his office has acted on the report by summoning the principal for a statement.

“According to the statement, principal denied [the accusation]. [Instead] the two students were moved to second grade because both didn’t show sufficient reading fluency,” Hutasoit said.

He added that the school principal doesn’t have the authority to remove students to lower grades. Hutasoit said, in the case of R and W, both remain in sixth and fourth grade but receive second-grade classes education.