Norwegians build schools in Aceh

JAKARTA: The first two elementary schools to be rebuilt in tsunami-wrecked Aceh will be officially opened on Thursday, after four months of construction work.

The schools have been reconstructed with the help of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in cooperation with the Torvald Klaveness Group and Wilh. Wilhelmsen, two major Norwegian shipping interests. The new buildings cost approximately US$100,000 each and will accommodate a total of 216 children and 18 teachers.

"This was a pilot project and a good example of how the Norwegian business sector and a humanitarian organization can work together and take international social responsibility," said secretary-general Raymond Johansen in NRC.

Fourteen of 24 elementary schools in Aceh were destroyed or seriously damaged by the Dec. 26 tidal wave.

In cooperation with the Indonesian authorities, NRC is organizing teacher training. Hundreds of schools that lost everything have received a "school-in-a-box" crate filled with necessary teaching materials. NRC has also introduced music, theater and art in the curriculum as a means of treatment for students who suffered severe trauma following the tsunami. -- JP