Acehnese students resume studies in damaged buildings

Acehnese students resume studies in damaged buildings

A'an Suryana and Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesian senior high school students (photo right) pray in
front of their classroom on Friday after it was burned down by
unidentified assailants in Aceh Besar.

Thousands of school students in war-torn Aceh were forced on
Friday to resume learning activities in the ruins of school
buildings following a massive burning campaign of school
buildings that started four days ago.

As of Friday at 6 p.m., the number of school buildings
destroyed by irresponsible parties in Aceh had already reached
328 located in nine regencies or municipalities, said Annas M.
Adam, deputy head of the Aceh provincial education office.

The burned schools represent almost 10 percent of the total
number of school buildings in Aceh. The troubled province has a
total of 4,864 schools in 20 regencies and municipalities.

Among the schools that resumed activities on Friday was Darul
Imarah I senior high school in Aceh Besar.

The students there were seen sitting on the floor while they
listened to the teachers, while others were engaged in
discussion.

Fahriati, the school principal, said she still urged her
students to keep coming to school, even though the school
building had already been burned down.

"It is imperative for students to attend school as they will
have their final examination in the near future," Fahriati was
quoted by Antara as saying.

Some elementary schools, however, were still closed on Friday.
Although some students still came to school, they just played
soccer outside the burned schools.

Meanwhile, students demanded on Friday that Aceh Governor
Abdullah Puteh keep his promise to provide them with tents, so
that learning activities could resume.

The burning of schools has brought losses to the state
amounting to Rp 100 billion, and left 40,000 students in limbo.

Separately, Minister of National Education Abdul Malik Fajar
said that the government would help provide schools with
emergency facilities such as tents in order to allow classes to
continue.

Funds will be disbursed in stages, Rp 30 billion will be given
initially to purchase school materials, said Malik Fajar.

Malik Fajar also promised that his ministry would ask security
authorities to spare troops in order to protect the remaining
schools.

Meanwhile, a political observer demanded on Friday a thorough
investigation into the arson attacks, saying that the acts were
gross violations of the Geneva convention.

Rizal Sukma, a senior researcher with the Centre for Strategic
and International Studies (CSIS), also urged the military to make
the protection of school buildings a priority, saying that the
schools are civilian spaces that must be untouched by war.