Blockade distress Sang Timur's disabled students

Blockade distress Sang Timur's disabled students

Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Classes ran according to schedule at private Sang Timur Catholic
School in Ciledug, Tangerang, on Monday, but a wall still blocked
its main gate, forcing students to enter the compound using the
back entrance.

While most children could scale the wall, some autistic and
handicapped students walked more than 500 meters through winding
alleys and dirt roads to reach the back gate.

Teachers said the experience had been so traumatic and
stressful for some of the children that they had given up, and
refused to return to school. The school has a total of 2,417
students from kindergarten to junior high school level, including
137 autistic or disabled children.

Sang Timur was chosen as a model for 37 similar schools in
Banten to follow.

Sister Sylvia, a staff member at Sang Timur, said on Friday
that teachers gladly received students who had been escorted by
their parents on foot, or reached the school's back entrance by
becak (pedicab) or ojek (motorcycle taxi).

"Many of the disabled students were hysterical. They cried,
screamed and stomped their feet all the way," she said.

Sylvia, who teaches the autistic and disabled students, said
the students were the ones most affected by the closure, as any
change in their routine upset them.

"They may not understand what is going on, but they notice
that they have to take a different route to class, and that makes
them stressed," she said.

Sylvia said some students -- who had been forced to stay home
for a week while the school was closed -- had become depressed.

"Many parents told me that their children nagged them. They
desperately wanted to go to school, and they became hysterical
when they were told that it was not an option," she said.
"Teachers also had to make up for lost time when classes resumed
as some of the students' studies had slipped," she said.

Hillon Goa, chairman of the school's parents forum, said other
students were affected as well.

"They are back at school, but the atmosphere is hardly
conducive to study," he argued, adding that students were no
longer convinced by the Pancasila (state ideology) teacher, as
lessons on tolerance and religious freedom seemed far removed
from reality.

The school has been targeted by youths -- claiming to be
members of the Karang Tengah Islamic Communication Forum -- for
holding services of another faith. The group erected a two-meter-
high wall, blocking the school's main access via the nearby
finance ministry housing complex.

The school recently made a back entrance in its eastern side
wall and formed a 300-meter dirt road that leads to nearby Jl.
Raden Saleh, for the students' convenience.

But, at the back entrance, a large banner has been hung
stating that "local residents refuse to give Sang Timur school
any access."

The school was closed on Friday to honor the start of
Ramadhan. Classes will resume on Monday, but the authorities have
given no indication of when the wall will be removed.