Aceh schools set to reopen in emergency mode

Aceh schools set to reopen in emergency mode

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak and R. Berto Wedhatama, The Jakarta Post,
Lhokseumawe

"Mak (Mom), I miss school. Don't let me to stay here for good --
otherwise I can't go to school," eight-year-old Syafriani, close
to tears, tells her mother at an emergency shelter in the state
high school SMUN 1 campus in Nisam regency, North Aceh.

Syafriani, a resident of Alue Dua hamlet, Simpang Empat Sandi
district, has been taking refuge at the school for more than two
weeks in war-torn Aceh.

It is unlikely that Syafriani can follow her peers in other
regions as they return to school on Monday, as the situation
remains uncertain in Aceh.

As many as 576 schools in the province have been burned down
since war between government troops and the Free Aceh Movement
(GAM) rebels broke out in mid-May. It is not clear who is
responsible for the arson, as both the TNI and GAM blame each
other.

Other students and their families have been forced to seek
refuge away from home, and one estimate reports 40,000 Acehnese
students are no longer able to attend school.

Another refugee, Juhama, said that the school in her village
started last Wednesday, but she was able to take her son Ibrahim
there only the following day.

"I didn't know if my son had been raised to the second grade
or not, because we haven't paid the school fees for three months,
and the school hasn't given us his report card," said Juhama, who
lives in a refugee camp in Cot Meurong village, Dayah Terpadu
district.

She said villagers in her district were only allowed to go 100
meters from the village for two months, before security forces
took them to a refugee camp. The ban effectively prevented them
from going to work or farming.

"My other child is still in elementary school. But how can she
continue her studies if we can't go to her old school to register
for the new academic year?" she asked.

Head of the North Aceh education board Umar Arkhady claimed
that the martial law administration, in cooperation with the
civilian administration and school principals, had established an
emergency scheme for the students in refugee camps or those whose
school had been burned down.

"We have provided schools in makeshift tents, and have
arranged that refugee children take classes at the schools
nearest them in the afternoons, after the regular classes in the
morning," Umar told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

"All of the residents (in North Aceh) have been informed about
this," he said, adding that registration requirements and school
fees had been waived for students under the emergency scheme. "We
will take care of that afterwards. Just go to school and please,
don't worry about other things."

The reconstruction of burned schools has started in some
places, such as in Juli district, Bireun regency. Several
residents were seen building three classrooms to replace the six-
classroom school that once stood here.

One of the workers said they were going to build a guard post
in the area to safeguard Leubok Iboh elementary school.

Mahathir, a fifth-grade student at the school, told the Post
that first- to third-year students would use the classrooms in
the morning, while fourth- to sixth-year students would use them
in the afternoon.

"All of our textbooks were burned in the fire, and we have yet
to find new ones," he said.

Suryono, a resident of Saree district, Pidie regency, said
that only two classrooms at his son's elementary school had
survived the fire that razed the school in May.

"Fortunately, some of the teachers live next to the school, so
the students can use their houses as emergency classrooms. But
the students need one more classroom, so the first-year and
second-year students will take turns using a classroom," Suryono
said.