Acehnese children want to study in hometown

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan

The desire to go back to their old school in Meulaboh is still strong in Febri Maunanda and Robbi Ervanda.

The two siblings have been studying in Medan for over a month and will stay there with their uncle until their father and brother who are being treated in the city's Pirngadi Hospital recover.

The pair have been attending SMU Dwi Warna senior high school for free, with textbooks and uniforms provided.

"We're happy that we can go to school here, but when our father and brother recover, we want to go back to our school in Aceh," the 17-year-old Febri said.

Their father and brother were being treated at the hospital after they were swept up by the tsunami on Dec. 26.

Febri said all his family members were victims of the waves as his house was only 150 meters away from the beach. His mother, Siti Zubaidah, was still missing.

Robbi said that when their father recovered, they would not immediately return to Aceh since they had to wait for a new house to be built for them.

"We don't know how long we'll stay in school here, maybe for a long time, as it will depend on our father's health," said the 16-year-old Robbi.

School principal Imam Kusnodin said both Febri and Robbi were registered in the school in mid-January. Earlier four Acehnese refugee children had been attending the school but two had already returned to Aceh.

Another refugee child, Rahmiana, 14, a senior high school student from Banda Aceh, also wants to return to the city to continue her studies. She says she misses her friends and does not want to stay much longer in a shelter.

"I'm bored here, I want to go back to Aceh to study. I miss my friends, they're all back at school now," said the girl, whose dream is to become a doctor.

Her sister, Rika, had been offered free senior high school education in Medan but she had turned it down. Like Rahmiana, Rika wants to study where she has many friends.

While she understood her children's desire to return home, their mother, Nurzaitun, said her current circumstances made it impossible.

"I'm confused. I want to go back to Aceh but we have nothing left. The children want to study but I don't have the money. Their father is still missing in the tsunami," Nurzaitun said.

She said she planned to work hard to earn money to pay for her children's education although her house and all of her belongings in Lingke, Darussalam, were gone.

North Sumatra Education Office head Sakhyan Asmara said on Wednesday he knew of about 2,300 Achenese children who were studying in the province. They had been registered as new students and were placed in schools in several cities, including Medan, Binjai, Tebing Tinggi and Sibolga, Sakhyan said.

"Most of the children of Acehnese refugees are placed in state and private schools in Medan." Forty-nine had returned back to Aceh, he said.

Most of the children of Acehnese refugees studied for free, apart from those whose relatives could afford more expensive private schools, he said.

According to North Sumatra provincial data about 19,601 refugees were now resident in the province, with 4,108 of them school-age children under 17 years of age.

"Many of the children are still studying here because their houses in Aceh have not yet been rebuilt," he said.