Popular vocational school building in poor condition

JAKARTA (JP): The condition of state-run Aviation Vocational High School (SMK Penerbangan 29) buildings on Jl. Jokosutono, South Jakarta, is so poor that hundreds of students are afraid to study there.

Many students expressed fears that the school would collapse and cause injuries. Much of the ceiling area in the school's 14 classrooms have decayed from age, and appear to be in danger of caving in at any time.

"We are afraid that the ceilings will fall down during class and cause fatalities," Romi, a second-year student, said on Thursday.

The ceiling in the engine design room, collapsed at around 9 p.m. on Tuesday night.

School had finished for the day and no one was injured by the collapse, Radix Gunawan, the school headmaster, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

"Fortunately, we had moved all laboratory equipment to another room, because we thought the ceiling would fall down," he said.

The ceiling of another classroom had also deteriorated to the point that he feared it would collapse.

Radix said the school was very old. "It was built in 1957 and has yet to be renovated by the government," he said.

Renovation

Radix explained that the school's management recently renovated some parts of the school buildings.

"We renovated, for example, the physics laboratory in September last year using the school's own money," he said, saying the school did not have enough money to do a complete renovation.

The school buildings are currently used by SMK Penerbangan 29, which has 437 students, from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., and the Aviation Vocational High School of the Indonesian Teachers Association (SMK Penerbangan PGRI 9), with 361 students, uses the school from 1:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Radix said the son of former president Soeharto, Hutomo Mandala Putra, known as Tommy, studied at the school from 1980 to 1983. "We have not asked him to assist in the school renovations, even though he is a school alumni."

The poor condition of the school has been reported to the Jakarta office of the Ministry of Education and Culture, but there has been no response, Radix said.

He said an officer from the ministry said the city administration had allocated funds for school's renovation from the ministry's budget for the 1999/2000 fiscal year, which begins next month.

Radix said the school was to be relocated from the city to Cengkareng in 1995. "But, the plan has yet to be realized."

Romi, an electricity department student, said that despite the poor condition of the buildings, the school was still 'ideal' because it was easily accessible.

"Cengkareng is far from everywhere," he said. The students wanted the government to abandon its relocation plans and to renovate the school instead. (01)