Education hampered in conflict-torn provinces<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Prolonged conflict has severely disrupted education in Aceh,
\nMaluku and Irian Jaya, thereby seriously threatening future human
\nresources development in the restive provinces.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of thousands of school-age children have been
\ndeprived of the right to an adequate education, which students in
\nother provinces enjoy. Hundreds of school buildings and other
\neducational facilities have been badly damaged in outbreaks of
\nthe conflict and thousands of teachers have been forced to stay
\naway from their work.<\/p>\n
More than 100,000 school-age children in Aceh missed school
\nover the last three years because of the mounting conflict
\nbetween the military and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM). Some of
\nthem stayed at home to help their parents while others followed
\ntheir families to take refuge inside and outside the province.<\/p>\n
According to data at the local education and culture office,
\n160 private and state elementary and high schools were badly
\ndamaged since 1999 and, so far, none have been repaired.<\/p>\n
\"Aceh will be facing a lost generation in the next two decades
\nsince hundreds of thousands of school-age children could not go
\nto school because of the increasing violence and the uncertainty.
\nThe conflict will widen and become complicated in scale since the
\nseparatist movement will gain greater support from the uneducated
\nyounger generation,\" Abdul Hadi Arifin, rector of the
\nMalikulsaleh University in Lhokseumawe told The Jakarta Post on
\nThursday.<\/p>\n
He said many school buildings were torn down by rebels because
\nthey were considered as places that propagate Indonesian
\nideology, and many others were used as hiding places by rebels in
\nfighting against security personnel.<\/p>\n
According to him, the current situation could be
\ncounterproductive when uneducated people take up arms to join
\nGAM.<\/p>\n
Sukarni, chief of the local education office, said she had
\nproposed an allocation of Rp 17 billion in the province's 2002
\nbudget, to carry out the compulsory nine-year education program
\nas well as to fight against prevalent illiteracy in the province.<\/p>\n
In Maluku, thousands of students have classes in makeshift
\nstructures in their refuge camps since their schools have been
\ndamaged during the three-year sectarian conflict that has
\ndisplaced more than 750,000 people.<\/p>\n
Most students have gained financial assistance from local and
\nforeign institutions, besides the government, to allow them to
\nattend the school classes since the conflict has damaged their
\nfamilies' finances.<\/p>\n
Dozens of elementary school buildings in Papua lay idle as
\nhundreds of teachers from Java and Sulawesi have returned to
\ntheir hometowns due to the frequent intimidation and terror by
\nFree Papua Movement (OPM) rebels.<\/p>\n
Jerry Hourissa, chief of the local education and culture
\noffice, admitted that besides the political instability, poor
\neconomic and primitive conditions has discouraged most parents
\nfrom sending their children to school.<\/p>\n
\"It will take decades to make indigenous people aware of the
\nimportance of education and to lift them from their current
\nconditions,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Hourissa said that under autonomy, the administration would
\nensure free education for all elementary and high school students
\nas of May 2002.<\/p>\n
\"We will also recruit more qualified teaching staff with
\nhigher salaries and provide special incentives for those
\nstationed in remote areas in the province,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Similar to the education problem in Aceh, the government has
\nyet to pay adequate attention to solve education problems,
\nincluding encouraging teaching staff to return from their home
\nprovinces, where they returned to avoid conflict.<\/p>\n
More than 2,000 school-age East Timorese children are having
\nclasses in camps in an education program carried out by Roman
\nCatholic priests in West Timor, due to the unstable condition in
\ntheir homeland.<\/p>\n
Father Daniel Klau Nahak of the Franciscan Order said the
\n\"special\" education program sponsored by the Catholic Charity
\nFoundation since March 2001 was aimed at educating refugees'
\nchildren, who could not be absorbed into formal schools because
\nof the limited capacity of existing formal schools and their
\nparents' poor financial condition.<\/p>\n
\"Students are taught reading and mathematics, two fields that
\nwill be important for their future, should they not continue to
\nstudy in formal schools after they go back home,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Venny Kappu, a teacher in the camp school, said almost all
\nstudents that graduated from the education program did not
\ncontinue formal schooling but went to work on their families'
\nfarms.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/education-hampered-in-conflict-torn-provinces-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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