SMP 56 students may lose battle and access to school
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post , Jakarta
Just a few days after middle school students of SMP 56 had returned to the comfort of their classrooms on Jl. Melawai Raya, South Jakarta, which had been occupied by city public order officers and policemen in a controversial land swap deal, the Jakarta administration issued an ultimatum warning that students would likely lose formal academic recognition unless they transferred to other "official" schools before April 28.
"If the students fail to move to other schools before our deadline, we will not be responsible for their legal status nor their access to formal education," Maman Achdiat, deputy head of the Jakarta Basic Education Agency in charge of issuing student ID numbers, said on Monday.
The agency has said it will waive registration fees and tuition for an entire academic year to students who transferred to other schools, effective April 29.
Maman claimed that the offer was a last resort to "save the students" from the prolonged dispute over the land swap deal between the Ministry of National Education -- through its Jakarta agency -- and developer PT Tata Disantara, owned by former manpower minister Abdul Latief, who also owns nearby Pasaraya Grande.
The 65 students who have insisted on remaining at their old school in Melawai have been faced with the administration's ultimatum amid preparations for their final exams, scheduled from June 21 to June 26.
Maman said the agency would make sure that the students will be evaluated on the mastery of their subjects in their first week at the new schools.
"If we think that they have yet to master several subjects, we will help them in getting extra sessions from their teachers at the new schools so they can catch up with other students," he said.
As of February, 20 SMP 56 students have been transferred to other schools to make way for the property transfer to PT Tata Disantara. Nine were transferred to nearby SMP 12 on Jl. Wijaya, four to the new SMP 56 in Jeruk Purut, three to SMP 177 in Pesanggrahan, two to SMP 29 on Jl. Bumi and one each to SMP 240 in Gandaria and SMP 13 on Jl. Tirtayasa, all in South Jakarta.
Responding to the ultimatum, chairman of the National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas Anak) Seto Mulyadi welcomed the decision as part of the agency's effort to remove the students from the protracted legal dispute.
"On Jan. 5 this year, the agency gave a similar deadline. We have already asked the agency to be lenient in regards the students by giving them more time and alternatives. It seems that the agency has attempted to accommodate the request," he said.
Seto pointed out that involving the students in the dispute further would be highly detrimental to them.
A similar call had been made earlier by a city councillor to exclude the students from the dispute.
The students, their parents and teachers of SMP 56 have been protesting the 2000 property deal between the ministry and the developer. The ministry traded the plot on which the school stands -- located across from Melawai Plaza, which is adjacent to Latief's Pasaraya Grande shopping center -- with schools in Jeruk Purut and Bintaro, South Jakarta, the latter of which borders Tangerang regency.
The SMP 56 group alleged a backroom deal between the ministry and developer and filed a civil suit with the South Jakarta District Court, which turned down the suit. The group is now awaiting a ruling on their appeal with the Jakarta High Court.