KGSB’s concern to protect students from cyber-bullying is in line with the topic of National Children’s Day, July 23, 2022, “Protected Children, More Advanced Indonesia.” KGSB founder Ruth Andriani said cyber-bullying is the downside of the internet that has crossed the line; therefore, the phenomenon needs to be carefully addressed by all parties, especially teachers and educators, as a student support system.
“The webinar discussed the legal aspect of cyber-bullying, and how to behave wisely on the internet, to prevent cyber-bullying toward students. We expect the webinar to inform teachers to better understand and provide the right response to acts of cyber-bullying in school and other environments. We need to play an active role in breaking the chain of cyber-bullying and create a bullying-free school environment in any form,” said Ruth.
Founder of Rumah Guru BK, Ana Susanti, said that cyber-bullying originated from traditional bullying. “The worse is, cyber-bullying can take place anywhere and at any time. Anonymous bullies are more difficult to identify, yet, children exposed to cyber-bullying can suffer for real. Be it the victim, the bully or the person who witnesses the bullying,” said Ana.
In his presentation, the Secretary General of the Association of Indonesian Internet Service Providers, Zulfadly Syam, stated that there were six things causing the rise of cyber-bullying: limited morality to only real-life (neglecting virtual morality), lack of personal data protection, internet solely for entertainment, low community development, low law enforcement and symbol exploitation. For this reason, he focuses on wisely socializing internet ethics and social media. Schools need to increase cyber-bullying awareness and guide children to use the internet productively and positively as technology develops rapidly and massively.