Acehnese students still study in tents

Nani Afrida, The Jakarta Post/Aceh Jaya

Standing atop the ruins of a house with only a tent to shade students from heat and rain, it's just another school day at SDN Kampung Baro elementary school in Setia Bakti district, Aceh Jaya regency.

Seven months after the tsunami, the tent from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has already started to look worn out, being torn in places.

The tent houses students in three grades, from fourth graders to sixth graders, who are separated by nothing more than small blackboards.

Some of the students, who were not wearing uniforms, sat in small chairs and others followed the lessons sitting on the dusty floor.

On certain days, when the wind blows strong and the rain falls hard, the school has to send the students home.

"When it's raining or the wind is strong, we don't go to school," Azrina Ulfa, a 10-year-old fourth grader, told The Jakarta Post.

The girl confessed that she missed having a real school with walls and doors and a table and a chair to sit on.

"It's hard for us to study this way. When is our school going to be built?" she asks.

With the new school year just started, the children are in high spirits.

At SDN Kampong Baro elementary school, each student arrived with a bag, which came with relief aid, each containing a thin exercise book, a pencil and an eraser, but no school textbooks.

Seven months on, some 40,000 students in the western coastal area of Aceh still have to study in tents.

Hopefully, things will start to get better for students, as UNICEF has requested the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to erect prefabricated schools in Aceh Jaya.

However, some 51 schools planned for Calang district, Aceh Jaya and its surrounding areas may not be finished in time due to transportation problems and building material shortages.

"But SD Kampung Baro will be finished in the coming week," said IOM Media Officer Paul Dillon.

The school will comprise three rooms, meaning that students will have to use them in shifts, morning and afternoon.

Although they now have to study in tents, many students still have noble ambitions.

"I want to be a school principal. Please pray for me so I can make it come true," said Ade Marphan Saputra, a 10-year-old fourth grader who lost his father in the tsunami.