Create a Child Friendly School, Our Desired Educational Institution

Reflecting on the increasing behavior of violence in schools, both done by adults to students and between students themselves, the establishment of child-friendly schools is important to begin to ensure a safe educational environment.

Violence in educational institutions does not only occur at the secondary and high school levels but also at the elementary school level, even in kindergartens.

To avoid violence in schools and create child-friendly schools, there are several important aspects that need attention.

Psychosocial Aspects of Child-Friendly Schools

Child-friendly schools need to pay attention to the emotional health of the people in them, without exception. Good interaction and social relations in school will help the emotional and intellectual development of children. If this condition can be realized, then intimidation, sexual harassment, and violent behavior towards students can be avoided.

Viewed from the psychosocial aspect, child-friendly schools need to do the following:

• Emphasizing values ​​and education that prioritizes the importance of cooperation, not merely competition to achieve the best rank.
• Providing opportunities for creativity.
• Facilitating good relationships and communication between teachers, students, and parents.
• Creating an environment that is warm, friendly, and emphasizes an attitude of mutual respect.
• Preventing physical punishment, intimidation, harassment, and violence, through policies or regulations on
• Provide equal opportunities for each student regardless of gender, race, and religion.

Health Aspects in Child-Friendly Schools

Efforts to create child-friendly schools will not succeed if they do not pay attention to the health element. For this reason, schools need to:

• Ensuring a healthy and hygienic learning environment. This is indicated by the existence of adequate clean water supply facilities, good sanitation of the school and classroom environment, as well as the existence of policies and health service provider facilities in proper schools.
• Provide good protection to protect children from the danger of physical, mental, and sexual abuse.
• Encourage the creation of physical and psychological health of students and teachers in schools.
• Provide a positive learning experience for students at school.

Efforts to Achieve Child-Friendly Schools

In addition to building a conducive environment as described above, child-friendly schools should also involve the surrounding environment. Some of the points below can be used as a reference to see whether the school is friendly for children or not.

• The school encourages the role of the family as primary caregivers and educators. In child-friendly schools, there must be cooperation and good relations between students, parents or guardians, and teachers.
• The school pays full attention to the education and development of students. In this case, schools need to encourage their students to participate in all learning activities and activities at school.
• The school has good social relations with the surrounding community.

Child-friendly schools are the desire of all parties. To make this happen, schools must ensure that every child is in a safe environment, both physically and emotionally. For this reason, it requires the involvement of all parties, including students themselves, teachers, parents, or guardians of students, as well as the community and government.

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