In late August this
year, the Daily Life news site published an article titled “They’re conducting ‘virginity
tests’ for high school girls in Indonesia”. The testing, which is to begin in
one province in Indonesia in particular, is verified by an education officer as
“for their own good”, and will be done as so;
“The test — to be
conducted on female students who are typically 15 or 16 and entering the
post-compulsory phase of education — would involve examining their hymen to see
if they are intact. Boys will neither be physically tested nor asked if they
are virgins.” (Michael Bachelard, Daily Life)
However, this
action was not an isolated case in Indonesia, and the issue of female virginity
and purity is one of rising importance in the now predominantly Muslim nation.
Quite recently, in one significantly Islamic district, the banning from women
to ride side-saddle on motorcycles was put in place, as in this case the “curves
of a women’s body” were too visible, as well as the proposed banning of
mini-skirts put forth by Indonesia’s religious affairs minister as an “anti-pornography
move” in March 2012.
This case reveals the way in which those in power are able to abuse their authority and impose their beliefs and ideals upon those with the lesser hand, and use this as a form of social control. The significance of this can be incredibly detrimental to a child's development, where still in a developmental stage of their learning and self-identity, this sudden subjection to the stigmas and social exclusion attached to this action can cause identity confusion and self dismissal. Not only has this act sought out to strip these girls of certain
civil rights, but it also acts to manipulate and impose upon them the views of
those that are in power.
The school, in
this regard, can be seen as less a place for developing the skills needed to
become an active member of society, but more as a way in which those in power
are able to manipulate and implement their views and ideals upon these children,
future adult citizens of that society.
This incident
however, is not an isolated one, and another example where the classroom and
right to education can be abused to victimize as well as manipulate students,
would be the recent event in Arkansas, where one school actually banned three students
from attending classes (two of whom have disabilities) until they had provided
the school with proof that they were not HIV positive. The school in Pea Ridge,
had “admitted that 'the district has recently required
some students to provide test results regarding their HIV status,” and as expected, the immorality of
this action was immediately questioned, executive director of DRC Tom Masseau stating "The fact that
the foster families have to provide documentation that the children are HIV
negative before entering the school is unlawful and immoral."(Michael Bachelard, Daily Life)
Whilst however different in
circumstances, this issue like the previous one, poses questions upon the issue of civil rights in regards to a students right and need for education, and the way in which this can be abused by those in power. With Education being more or less the equivalent to culture, being a culture in itself (Wadham, Pudsey, Boyd. 2007, p.1) it is thus important that this not be abused, where students grow to accept what they are being forced to in the Classroom, and then carrying out this view and ideal into the world.
Resources
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2423552/Arkansas-school-district-bans-3-children-classes-provide-negative-HIV-test-results.html
http://www.dailylife.com.au/news-and-views/theyre-conducting-virginity-tests-for-high-school-girls-in-indonesia-20130821-2sai0.html
Wadham, B., Pudsey, J. & Boyd, R.
(2007). Culture and Education. Sydney: Pearson Education. Chapter 1: What is
culture?
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