Indonesian high school students take an exam in Jakarta in this file photo. (Photo by Romeo Gacad)
The parents of an 11th-grade student in Indonesian capital Jakarta are taking the unusual step of suing a Jesuit-run school for giving their son poor marks and refusing to allow him to continue to grade 12.
The lawsuit against Jakarta Gonzaga College was lodged at the South Jakarta District Court by the student’s mother, Yustina Supatmi, who says the school’s actions amount to discrimination against her son.
In the lawsuit she names the college and four senior staff members, including the school president, Jesuit Father Peter Paulus Andri Asranto, and his deputy, Jesuit Father Gerardus Hadian Panomokta, as the main defendants.
She is demanding the school revise her son’s grades, allow him to advance to the next grade and pay about US$40,000 in damages for the distress caused to him.
The school denies the boy was being victimized, saying he received bad marks because of his poor academic performance and disruptive behavior.
The court case has aroused great interest in Indonesia and a debate over whether the case should have reached the court in the first place. But most agree better communication was needed between both sides.
Franciscan Father Vinsensius Darmin Mbula, chairman of the National Council of Catholic Education, said the case should not have reached court and that all concerned should show more commitment to resolving the dispute among themselves.
“Catholic schools should communicate better since there have been many cases of misunderstandings between teachers, schools and parents,” Father Mbula told ucanews.
The National Council of Catholic Education, he said, always encourages Catholic schools to promote open and honest communication to build mutual trust.
Taga Radja Gah, who heads the student character development office at Jakarta’s education department, said that in this case constructive communication was almost non-existent.
He said the student’s parents had asked him to mediate in the dispute but Gonzaga College rejected the offer. “The school chose to settle it through the court,” Kompas.com quoted Radja as saying.
However, the first hearing in the case on Oct. 28 had to be adjourned when the teachers failed to show up at court.
The management of Gonzaga College, meanwhile, were not available for comment.