At the beginning the activities in the first week, new children participate in the activities of the Dream House. He was named Nina, who now sits in 7th grade at one of Yogyakarta’s public colleges. He accidentally came to talk about his problem at school with his friend. I appreciate him enough so that he dares to share this personally with me. At that time, I chose not to take care of other things or to accompany other children, Nina could say comfortably with nothing to hide or fear. Because her aunt already told me that and asked for advice that Nina would not want to leave school.
Nina was a student who embraced Islam but chose not to hide because she thought she would wear it after feeling ready to think and think. He does not want to use the hijab, but he always wears and behaves badly. Nina thought she was still learning to understand religion. She could not be forced to wear the headscarf even though she was Muslim. He also stated that, even if he did not use the hijab, he still respected the obligation of adhering to Islam, namely prayer, reading the quran, fasting, etc. He does not want to be hostile to anyone either. He wants to be friends with anyone, regardless of the religion of others. Yes, that’s how Nina was born into an Islamic family and her family gave her the freedom to wear a headscarf or not, which was her right.
Introduction to Nina Indeed, I started with him and his religion because it was related to what was a problem between him and his friends. He chose public or public schools with the choice of not forcing Islamic students to wear headscarves. But unfortunately, he had gossiping from his classmates or his closest group. And now he does not feel comfortable in school, there are even teachers who excommunicate him indirectly.
At first, Nina entered college with a small group of 7 people. All his friends are women and are Muslim. They use the hijab and Nina is the only child not to use the hijab. Nina never posed a problem or felt inferior. However, over the course of the day, her closest friends started commenting “Neth, you’re a Muslim, why do not you wear the headscarf,” “Neth, you should wear a hijab, do not spit aurat” He always replied: “I do not want to wear a hijab, but outside, it always comes off and later, when I’m ready, I’ll use the hijab”. His friends did not stop there. When Nina remained stubborn not to use the hijab, she began to be rejected even in all her personal lives.
The odd number of students in her class has now made her sit on her own bench without my compatriots. He used to have a classmate, but since the incident over his friend, who was not in the nearest group, he was told to move with another friend. From that moment, he was very worried. Nina wondered if her friend was away because she did not wear a headscarf. He himself was confused to answer it. In class, he felt very uncomfortable. Even now, he’s always alone wherever he goes, whether he’s a sportsman, in the canteen or talking to him, that he has no friends.
One day while sitting in front of his own classroom, he was reprimanded by a senior student council member. Apparently Nina became his observation because he was often alone. Finally, Nina told her older sister and gave her general advice in Nina’s class. Unfortunately, it made Nina even more hateful of her friends. Even more unpleasant words that he received like “Nina, you like to complain”, “so veiled”, “you are supposed to be happy”. This was aggravated by one of his teachers who also publicly blamed him for not wearing the veil as his friend.
Nina is tired of what is happening at school and should be a comfortable place to learn something. In fact, he already put a picture of his family on Instagram and this was a problem for his friend. His friend immediately commented on Instagram: “Neth, it turns out that in your family, wearing the headscarf is just your brother, hmm?” In addition to social media, tomorrow continues in the real world. Nina started to get excited. Why not just go to school? Why did her family take care of her? Finally, he fought against himself, in other words “forced” to wear the headscarf at school. One day, two days finally, his friend made no comment. He feels relieved. But soon after, one of her friends saw Nina play outside without wearing a hijab. It became a new problem, Nina finally confused.
Nina even wanted to leave school, but her family banned her. Finally, his aunt told him to come to the activities in the dream house so as not to feel that he had no friends. Honestly, I was at that moment confusing myself about how my opinion could be understood. Considering that I had experienced it myself and that Nina told me that I had to restrain my overflowing hatred of childhood. As a volunteer, I must be able to act with greater wisdom to make children think and behave better.
According to Nina’s story, tolerance, courtesy and mutual respect must be taught since the children are young. This is not a trivial problem, but will have a major impact on this country. If, since childhood, children can already generalize in this way, what will this country be? Indonesia, the country Bhinekka Tunggal Ika does not belong to any religion, ethnicity, race or particular culture. All belong to Indonesia, in which there are different types of cultures, races, tribes and religions that we must learn to protect. If you really need to choose from a variety of choices, without having to reduce what others choose.
It is time for parents to introduce different religions, cultures, tribes and races, as children are still small and not just a burden on the school.