Acehnese students still study in tents

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.