Sang Timur parents demand solution, again
Sang Timur parents demand solution, again
Parents of children attending the Sang Timur Catholic School in
Karang Tengah district, Tangerang, on Monday urged Mayor Wahidin
Halim to take immediate measures to ensure that their students
can study in peace.
Parents' forum chairman Hillon Goa said that all existing
access into the school compound have been blocked by local
residents.
"We want a guarantee that there'll be no more disturbances ...
the administration must find a solution by Dec. 20 or violence
might break out," he said.
Wahidin said the administration would assist the school's
management in procuring land to build a new road access to the
school compound.
"The school has no financial difficulty in buying; what is
difficult is persuading locals to sell part of their land," he
told reporters after meeting the parents' forum.
Arguing that the school had violated its permit by holding
religious services for the local Saint Bernadette parish, local
groups built a concrete wall blocking the school's main gate on
Oct. 3.
The administration demolished the wall on Oct. 25, but locals
continued to ban cars from passing the neighborhood to reach the
school, forcing 2,417 students -- including 137 autistic and
mentally retarded children -- to walk about 500 meters to reach
the school's back door.
Recently, local residents built walls on two alternative
access routes into the school.
"Such actions by local residents not only make it difficult
for us to go to the school, but it also disrupts learning and
teaching activities," Hillon said.
Although the case was being handled by the National Commission
on Human Rights and the National Commission for Child Protection,
tension was still high in the neighborhood.
Wahidin said that the basic problem between the school and
locals was easy to address, and was related to the use of
neighborhood streets, "but since it has been mixed up with
religious issues, the residents have been provoked and the
problem has became more difficult to solve". --JP