The suicide of an elementary school student in Ngada Regency, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), reportedly triggered by the family’s inability to pay school fees and purchase basic school supplies, has drawn serious concern from various groups. The incident adds to Indonesia’s growing list of child suicide cases.
UGM sociologist Andreas Budi Widyanta, fondly known as Ab, argued that the tragedy cannot be viewed merely as an individual issue, but rather an indication of the state’s structural failure to protect children.
According to Ab, suicide among children and adolescents reflects complex social problems rooted in structural inequality. He stressed that the case represents the climax of accumulated social pressures resulting from the state’s failure to provide equitable access to basic services.
“This phenomenon must be seen as a structural social problem. Widening economic inequality has pushed some segments of society into extreme conditions, to the point where they are unable to meet even the most basic educational needs,” he said on Thursday (Feb. 5).
He explained that structural violence by the state is evident in development practices that tend to benefit elite groups, while impoverished communities face limited access to education, health care, and welfare.
“Such conditions, in his view, create a sense of despair that seeps into the inner world of children,” he explained.
Ab observed that a child’s decision to take their own life represents an expression of deadlock arising from the loss of hope for the future. He emphasized that children do not yet have full autonomy to make existential decisions and that such actions therefore reflect immense social pressure.
“Suicide becomes a language of darkness when children have no space to express their feelings, anxieties, and hopes. This indicates the loss of expectations for the future,” he said.
Furthermore, Ab highlighted the roles of family, school, and society as the three centers of education that have yet to provide dialogic spaces for children. He argued that authoritarian power relations often deprive children of safe spaces to express their feelings and thoughts.
“In families, affection is often absent; in society, children’s rights are not adequately recognized; and in schools, teachers are still positioned as the sole source of truth. As a result, children have no room to voice what they feel,” he said.
Ab asserted that the state has been negligent in protecting children, particularly when it demands discipline and academic achievement on one hand, while failing to fulfill citizens’ basic needs on the other.
“The state places excessive demands on children to become an ‘excellent generation,’ yet is unable to provide the basic facilities needed for a decent life. This is an irony,” he stressed.
Fundamental changes in state governance, along with strengthening the roles of family, school, and society, are necessary as preventive measures. He underscored the importance of creating spaces of affection within families, eliminating stigma against children in society, and transforming schools into healthy and inclusive spaces for dialogue.
In addition, Ab emphasized the need for accurate poverty-alleviation policies, free from corruption, collusion, and nepotism, to ensure that social services reach their intended targets.
“The suffering of children is the suffering of the nation. The phenomenon of child suicide reveals cracks in the face of Indonesia and serves as a warning that the state must urgently reform its efforts to protect the younger generation,” he concluded.
Author: Jelita Agustine
Editor: Gusti Grehenson
Post-editor: Jasmine Ferdian
Photograph: detik.com