1,364 Students at Depok State Junior High School 3 Study on Floor Without Desks and Chairs for Months

A concerning phenomenon has emerged at a state school in Depok, West Java, where students are forced to study on the floor without desks and chairs. The situation is occurring at SMP Negeri 3 Depok on Jalan Barito Raya, Sukmajaya District, where 1,364 students have been learning in this manner for the past six months, from January to June 2026.

According to gathered information, the school lacks any furniture, and the Depok city government has reportedly turned a blind eye to the situation. This means there has been absolutely no attention from the local government, causing students to study on hard classroom floors.

The absence of desks and chairs at SMP Negeri 3 Depok has frequently drawn complaints from parents, who say it is reducing students’ concentration during teaching and learning activities. “Thousands of students often complain. They find it difficult to focus because the floor is hard and cold. Moreover, the students’ body positions are uncomfortable as they learn without mats, bending over, squatting, and lying on their stomachs while writing,” parents stated on Sunday (14/6/2026).

Parents expressed deep concern for their children’s health, as studying on the floor for extended periods significantly impacts their wellbeing. “Sitting on the floor for a long time will disrupt the children’s posture and eyesight,” said Erna, one of the parents.

According to Erna, the Depok City Education Office should be addressing the fact that thousands of students are learning without desks and chairs. “The Depok city government should have provided school desks and chairs. We parents have repeatedly questioned the school’s facilities with the relevant agency, including questioning the School Operational Assistance (BOS) funds allocated by the government, but there has been no response,” she said.

Former head of SMP Negeri 3 Depok, Ety Kuswandarini, who is now the head of SMP Negeri 8 Depok, confirmed that students were learning without desks and chairs during her tenure at the school. Ety explained that the SMP Negeri 3 Depok building she led has three floors with 33 classrooms and 1,364 students. The school on Jalan Barito Raya is a new building, officially inaugurated in January 2026. “Although the building is magnificent, this project left a problem because the furniture facilities were not yet adequate,” she said.

Ety did not clarify whether the budget was focused on physical construction, resulting in the unavailability of student desks and chairs when the building began to be used. “Perhaps due to a delay in the procurement of facilities, or the use of new classrooms that had not yet been equipped with furniture,” she suggested.

As a temporary measure, Ety said thousands of students bring mats and study in a ‘lesehan’ style, or use folding tables brought from home. According to information from Depok City Hall, the new three-storey U-shaped building was inaugurated on 8 January 2026. The construction cost a staggering Rp28 billion, sourced from the regional budget (APBD).

The root cause of the desk and chair problem is a lack of synchronisation between the Depok Education Office (Disdik) and the Housing and Settlement Office (Disrumkim), where the building construction process was separated from the furniture procurement, which could only be processed in 2026.