Govt to set up makeshift schools throughout Aceh<\/p>\n
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The government said on Tuesday that it planned to immediately set
\nup makeshift schools in some 95 locations near refugee camps in
\nAceh to allow students in the tsunami-hit province to resume
\ntheir education activities.<\/p>\n
Minister for National Education Bambang Sudibyo explained that
\nschool activities in devastated areas during the first month will
\nbe focussed more on efforts to deal with psychological and
\nemotional impacts on students, helping them overcome the trauma
\nof the disaster.<\/p>\n
\"We have also ordered surviving schools (in the province) to
\naccept students from other (damaged) schools, and to set up two
\nshifts, one for the morning and one in the afternoon,\" he told
\nreporters following a meeting with President Susilo Bambang
\nYudhoyono.<\/p>\n
The massive undersea quake and subsequent tsunami on Dec. 26
\nwashed away many school buildings in Aceh. The province's west
\ncoast areas bore the brunt of the disaster.<\/p>\n
According to one estimate some 420 school buildings across
\nAceh were destroyed by the disaster, and some 1,000 teachers
\ndied.<\/p>\n
School activities in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh are
\nexpected to resume on Jan. 26. Some schools in Meulaboh, where
\nmore than 28,000 people have been confirmed dead, reopened on
\nMonday. The mood on the first day of school was somber as many
\nstudents were still traumatized by the calamity and by
\naftershocks of up to 6.0 on the Richter scale. Many students
\nstill preferred to stay in their temporary camps, which some
\nclaimed might undermine efforts by the government to resume
\nschool activities and help create a sense of normalcy in the
\nprovince. Getting children back to school is seen as crucial in
\nthe early phases of Aceh's rehabilitation process.<\/p>\n
The government plans to bring in new teachers from outside the
\nprovince to facilitate the rehabilitation of the school system in
\nAceh.<\/p>\n
\"We have received offers from several universities to send
\ntheir students to support the education process. State-owned
\nGadjah Mada University will send some 500 students to the
\nprovince to teach,\" Bambang said.<\/p>\n
The minister said that for the first few weeks school
\nactivities will be focussed on psychological healing for the
\nchildren<\/p>\n
\"We will begin with the cognitive aspects after they have
\nrecovered from the trauma, but we will do our best to ensure that
\nthey are not left behind compared to students in the rest of the
\ncountry,\" Bambang said.<\/p>\n
In relation to higher education, he said that the province
\nfaced a difficult problem amid a serious shortage of lecturers,
\nciting as an example that the main Syiah Kuala University had
\nlost 96 lecturers with another 76 missing.<\/p>\n
\"We will ask other universities to accept Aceh students, or we
\nwill have to provide substitute lecturers for them,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Separately, chairman of the National Commission for Child
\nProtection (Komnas PA) Seto Mulyadi said that the commission
\nwould soon launch a national correspondence program between
\nAcehnese students with other children across the country as part
\nof efforts to overcome children's trauma.<\/p>\n
\"Acehnese children need love and attention, and hopefully by
\ncorresponding with their peers outside the province they will be
\nable to talk through and finally overcome their trauma,\" Seto
\nsaid.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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