A student of Bina Mujtama Integrated Islamic Elementary School in Bojong Gede, Bogor, West Java, has said she is afraid to go to school after the principal punished her by allegedly making her do 100 push-ups because of unpaid school fees.

The 10-year-old student said she was handed down the punishment last week after a meeting with the principal. She said she was “scared” of returning to school and that her stomach was in pain after the punishment.

"The principal told me to do [push-ups]. He said I would not get an exam card if my school fees remain unpaid," the student told kompas.com on Monday.

She said it was not the first time she faced such a punishment, as she was previously asked to do 10 push-ups by the principal. She also said some of her friends were punished in similar ways.

The school principal, Budi, confirmed the punishment but denied reports that he had asked her to do 100 push-ups. Budi said the girl was punished because her parents had failed to pay her monthly tuition for over 10 months

"It's only a form of shock therapy but it was not [100 push-ups], only 10, and then we had a discussion afterward. We understand the students' condition so we would not have told them to do that many [push-ups]," he said.

The incident prompted her family to look into moving her to another school, as their daughter refused to return to school following a 10-day absence.

“Hopefully no more students are treated like my sister was. I feel sorry for her. She does not want to go to school and meet people,” her older sibling told kompas.com. (mai)