Roof collapses, 3 students injured

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post/Tangerang

Some parts of a roof of a classroom at state elementary school SDN 01 in Sampora village, Cisauk district of Tangerang collapsed on Friday morning and fell unto 24 students who were studying. Three students were injured in the incident.

Headmaster Wawan Hendrawan said that the three students were allowed to go home after having minor wounds on their heads and backs treated.

"We sent home all other students as they appeared to be traumatized by the incident," Wawan told The Jakarta Post. There are a total of 290 students studying at the school.

According to Wawan, the whole structure of the school building is in dire need of total renovation as it was built in 1961.

"We have long asked the regency administration for funds to renovate the school, fearing it may collapse. My fears have been confirmed now," he lamented.

Aliyah, a teacher at the school, said that 10 people, who introduced themselves as officials from the Regency's Elementary Education Agency had come to survey the condition of the building last month.

"They told us that we could start renovating the school this month on the condition that we provide Rp 5 million (US$549) in cash for them to pave the way for the disbursement of the fund for the renovation," she said.

The agency's head Mas Iman Kusnandar could not immediately be reached for comment.

Earlier, Regent Ismet Iskandar said that he had been seeking private investors who are willing to help renovate 70 percent of the damaged schools across the regency's 26 districts through a soft loan scheme.

"There are 960 state elementary schools in the regency and 70 percent of them are in a poor condition and need renovation. We cannot do any repair projects if we rely merely on our budget," he said.