Over 30% elementary schools falling apart: Official<\/p>\n
Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Director General for Elementary Education at the Ministry of
\nEducation Indradjati Sidi revealed on Monday that more than 30
\npercent of elementary schools were either ruined or in a state of
\nirreversible decay.<\/p>\n
He admitted that the decrepit state of the buildings was just
\none of the many problems plaguing the education system in the
\ncountry.<\/p>\n
Indradjati said that a large percentage of state elementary
\nschools could no longer be used safely and all school activities
\nhad to be conducted outside because the government had not
\nallocated the necessary funds to rebuild them.<\/p>\n
He said the buildings could no longer be used, partly because
\nof old age as they were built around 30 years ago, and partly
\nbecause many were damaged in conflict zones like Aceh, Sulawesi
\nand Maluku.<\/p>\n
The number of elementary schools run by the government is
\n149,000, in urban and rural areas across the country.<\/p>\n
"The government and the House of Representatives should give
\nserious attention to this problem because this has made the
\nelementary education problem more complicated. If the nation is
\ncommitted to improving the quality of education in general in the
\nfuture we need to do something," he said after inaugurating a
\ntraining center for teachers in Bandung, West Java.<\/p>\n
He said that the government had allocated Rp 625 billion in
\nthe 2004 state budget to rehabilitate the schools but the amount
\nwas far from enough so they would have to prioritize schools that
\ncould no longer be used and were located in densely-populated
\nareas.<\/p>\n
The government has said it would raise the education budget to
\n20 percent of the national budget as stipulated by the amended
\nConstitution, but it has only allocated about one-fifth of that.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of thousands of students in Aceh, Maluku and Central
\nSulawesi, have been studying in tents, mosques and churches since
\nmany of the schools have been razed during the various conflicts
\nin those areas.<\/p>\n
Maluku has sought financial assistance from foreign donors,
\nincluding the European Union, to rebuild school buildings damaged
\nduring the 1999-2002 religious conflict that killed more than
\n6,000 people and displaced more than 750,000 others.<\/p>\n
In Aceh, the martial law administration has begun
\nrehabilitating more than 600 elementary and high schools which
\nwere burned down since President Megawati Soekarnoputri declared
\nmartial law on May 19, 2003.<\/p>\n
Ki Supriyoko, a professor at the Sarjanawiyata Tamansiswa
\nUniversity in Yogyakarta, said last week that the poor condition
\nof the school buildings was just one component of the pathetic
\nstate of education in the country.<\/p>\n
The situation is not new because the country has had these
\nproblems since the country's independence in 1945, he said: "The
\nreal problem is that the nation has failed to devote serious
\nattention to developing education."<\/p>\n
Supriyoko said further that the state elementary schools had
\nbeen also running short of educational facilities and teaching
\nstaff.<\/p>\n
"Many of the teachers in elementary school are not permanent
\nand many local administrations have deployed security personnel
\nto teach students in elementary and high schools in remote
\nareas," he said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/over-30-elementary-schools-falling-apart-official-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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