Jakarta School Building Collapse Forces 274 Students into Merger Plan

The condition of educational infrastructure in Jakarta has come under renewed scrutiny after the building of SDN Kebayoran Lama Selatan 09 Pagi was reported to have collapsed in November 2024. The incident, which coincided with the DKI Jakarta Regional Head Election (Pilkada), has left hundreds of students without a proper place to learn. The structural damage to the school was significant. According to compiled data, five main rooms were directly affected by the collapse of the roof and building structure. Although the physical damage was concentrated in those five rooms, school authorities and the relevant agency decided to halt all teaching and learning activities at the site for safety reasons. This has impacted 274 students from grades 1 to 6 who are still enrolled at the school. As an emergency measure to ensure students’ right to education is fulfilled, all pupils from SDN Kebayoran Lama Selatan 09 have been forced to take shelter at the nearest school. The chosen location is SDN Kebayoran Lama Selatan 11 Pagi, which is geographically situated right next to the collapsed building. This sharing arrangement presents its own challenges for school management, teachers, and students, given that the building capacity of SDN 11 Pagi must accommodate two different school populations at the same time. The Education Sub-Department (Sudin) for Region I of South Jakarta has prepared a long-term measure to address this issue. The Head of the South Jakarta Region I Education Sub-Department, Santoso, stated that the primary solution to be taken is a merger between SDN Kebayoran Lama Selatan 09 and SDN Kebayoran Lama Selatan 11 Pagi. ‘For the effectiveness and efficiency of management at the education unit (school) level,’ Santoso said during a briefing in Jakarta on Wednesday. Given the importance of safe and independent educational facilities, the acceleration of construction is the main hope for parents and teaching staff. Although the budgeting mechanism in DKI Jakarta is carried out in stages, the urgency of repairing the building that collapsed in late 2024 is a priority so that the teaching and learning process can return to normal in the school’s own building.