Gandhi acquisition plan rejected

JAKARTA: The city's elementary education office has turned down the request of Gandhi Memorial School in Ancol, North Jakarta, to acquire nearby plots where the SDN 01 and SDN 02 elementary schools currently stand.

Iing A. Mukmin of the education office said that the request was rejected because there were many students studying at the two schools, and that their parents had strongly objected to relocating the schools.

Hundreds of residents expressed their objection to the plan on Wednesday, when they staged a rally in protest.

Mukmin told Kompas that the Gandhi Memorial School wanted to acquire the land to build the school's parking lot.

Local residents have complained that the school was causing traffic congestion in the neighborhood, especially because it does not have a parking space of its own. -- JP