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.