Popular vocational school building in poor condition

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)