Govt to restore schools in disaster areas
Govt to restore schools in disaster areas
JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of National Education is set to
begin rehabilitating thousands of elementary and junior high
school buildings in disaster-hit and riot-torn areas beginning
March, an official said on Monday.
"We hope to start the rehabilitation projects in March using
the US$30 million grant from the Netherlands," Directorate
General for Primary and Secondary Education Indra Djati Sidi
said.
"But we have to make several adjustments since many more
schools were damaged during recent calamities such as landslides,
floods and typhoons in the provinces of Banten, North Sulawesi
and Lampung," Indra told members of the media in his office.
The government will also begin its school rehabilitation
scheme with the proposed budget of Rp 73 billion (US$7.6 million)
in nine regencies crowded with refugees from natural disasters
and riots, he said.
The nine provinces are Bengkulu, West Java, West Kalimantan,
Maluku, North Maluku, East Nusa Tenggara, Irian Jaya, Aceh and
Central Sulawesi.
Indra also revealed that two schools in East Java were
vandalized by mobs during a protest by supporters of President
Abdurrahman Wahid on Feb. 3.
"The two schools were SMU Muhammadiyah II High School in
Sidoardjo and a kindergarten belonging to the Al-Irsyad
foundation in Patokan subdistrict of Probolinggo, all in East
Java. The mobs damaged gates, doors, windows, bicycles and
typewriters ... losses amount to about Rp 21 million," he said.
He further called on the people staging protests and
expressing their aspirations not to resort to violence and
destroy public facilities.
"Such political activities must be separated from schools or
the learning process ... people must be aware that school and
education is a significant field that cannot be continually
interrupted," Indra said.
"Political upheaval and over democratic zeal have brought
unintended consequences that have disrupted the national
education process ... students leave classes for protests all the
time and days taken off due to fears of riots, all contribute to
the slow improvement of education," Indra said.
Speaking about the plan to hold joint National Test for
University Entrance (UMPTN) and National Exam (Ebtanas), Indra
said that all related parties including the Directorate General
for Higher Education will further discuss the details with
members of the House of Representatives (DPR) on Feb. 20.
"Basically we are trying to run an effective, economical and
psychologically-supportive national test for senior high school
students who wish to go to universities," Indra said.
On the school-based management program, Indra said that pilot
projects on "the appointment of school principals" will begin in
a couple of months.
"The school community, comprising teachers, parents, local
leaders and officials will together decide and set recruitment
standards for the appropriate principals and the central
government will then install the appointed figure as a school
principal," Indra said. (edt)