Bali Child Protection Agency (LPA) has said it disagrees with the proposal for virginity tests to be carried out on high school students, as proposed recently by the Education Department in Prabumulih, South Sumatra.
LPA Bali secretary Suharyati said that virginity testing is no guarantee of how ethical or moral a student’s attitude may be. “You can use it, but you can always pinpoint errant girls who are the exceptions so it’s not a suitable benchmark,” Suharyati said on Tuesday.
“What is more important is to educate children from an early age so they can determine what is ethical and moral. Educators should also be more concerned with ethical and moral behavior than virginity testing,” she added.
Furthermore, Suharyati said, virginity testing of students is likely to have an adverse psychological impact on child rape victims. Some victims might be able to come to terms with the violation eventually, but those who cannot are likely to be traumatised in a situation where virginity testing has become routine.
It has been reported that Prabumulih Education Department is planning to allocate funds in its 2014 budget for virginity test for high school students.
Bali rejects idea of virginity testing for schoolgirls | Latest News From Bali | The Beat Daily
