Classes disrupted due to damaged school buildings

Classes disrupted due to damaged school buildings

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

How can students study and their teachers concentrate on their
work under a classroom ceiling that is threatening to fall on
them at anytime?

Yul Indira, the principal of state elementary school SD
Pisangan Baru 13 in East Jakarta, may be able to answer the
question.

Last week, an entire ceiling of one classroom collapsed while
parts of the ceiling of two other rooms also disintegrated. No
one was hurt as the three classrooms were abandoned just months
ago.

Yul told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday that she had lodged a
complaint about the poor condition of her school buildings last
year, but thus far the city administration had yet to provide
funding for renovations, except for the three-monthly maintenance
installment of Rp 900,000 (US$100).

She said that as the building's condition worsened, she
decided to leave three of the eight classrooms vacant and move
the students to the safety of other classrooms.

Strong odors from a chicken farm, which is only 20 meters away
from the school, makes things worse. It even forced one teacher
to wear a mask.

"The smell gets stronger at midday, especially in the dry
season," said Slamet, the teacher.

It is not the only elementary school building which is in
urgent need of repair. Many other schools are in a poor
condition.

Take the nearby SD Pisangan Baru 11 and SD Pisangan Baru 05,
for example. Some of the schools' rooftops are bending, obviously
about to fall as the wooden columns continue to decay.

Only 25 meters in front of SD Pisangan Baru 05, there is a
huge temporary dump site emanating strong odors.

According to data from the city education agency made
available to The Jakarta Post, there are 387 state elementary
school buildings in the capital which need repair.

There are a total of 2,334 state elementary schools and 750
private elementary schools with more than 810,000 students.

Meanwhile, Cecep Supendi, chief of the building section at the
city education agency, admitted that many schools could not be
immediately renovated due to limited funds from the city
administration.

"The fund is very limited, it is not enough to cover all the
damaged school buildings in the capital simultaneously," Cecep
said.

Cecep also admitted to a lengthy bureaucratic process before
any school could be renovated.

"We can only propose the plan, but the technical and final
decision is in the hands of the respective mayoralty
administrations," Cecep said.

According to Cecep's estimation, the damaged building of SD
Pisangan Baru 13 would cost Rp 300 million to repair.

Meanwhile, in contrast to Cecep's claim of a lack of funds, a
team of officials from the East Jakarta Mayoralty education
office visited SD Pisangan Baru 05 on Wednesday to check on a
package of chairs donated as part of the post-flood support
program.

"We are here to check the desks and chairs which had been
delivered as part of the post-flood support program and whether
or not the numbers fit with the report," said an official. "But
don't ask about the quality," he added, effectively admitting to
their poor quality.

To his surprise, a teacher commented that the school was in
dire need of cash to repair the buildings instead of chairs and
desks.

The school building, the teacher claimed, was not affected by
the flood which hit Jakarta in January and February this year.