Schools to be built on stilts in flood-prone areas

JAKARTA (JP): The city administration plans to build elementary school buildings in flood-prone areas on raised platforms to ensure that school documents and furniture remain intact when heavy rain hits the areas.

Soeparmo, the head of the city education agency, which is in charge of only elementary education, says the city plans to rebuild schools in at least 100 locations recorded as being vulnerable to flooding.

The project is scheduled to start next year, and the City Council has approved the plan, he said yesterday.

The estimated cost of one raised-platform school building is Rp 700 million (US$305,000).

New buildings will have three stories, while the platforms will be three meters above the ground.

While access roads to schools may be flooded, "at least documents will not be lost," he said yesterday.

The floods in January and February forced children to stay home and schools suffered severe losses.

"We cannot count the losses of documents like report cards," Soeparmo said. "Documents were all washed away at some schools in Bidara Cina, Jatinegara (East Jakarta) and Kebon Baru (South Jakarta)."

Previous estimates of repairs to schools hit by floods exceeded Rp 3.63 billion. Six of the worst hit schools were two in Petamburan, Central Jakarta, two in Kebayoran Baru and Pengadegan, South Jakarta, and two in Bidara Cina and Cililitan, East Jakarta.

"Floods are unpredictable now," Soeparmo said, which is why the sites of the schools picked for reconstruction are in all five mayoralties.

Chairman of the council's commission for social welfare, Atje Muljadi, said the commission supports any plan that enables students to study better.

"We also urge that the city provides funds to repair access roads to schools," to prevent prolonged absences from school in times of flood, Atje said.

Soeparmo said as of the 1994/1995 fiscal year, funding for school renovations now comes from the respective mayoralty budgets.

The city budget for elementary education is currently Rp 47 billion, while the allocated funds from mayoralties totals Rp 34 billion, Soeparmo said.

"This way mayors have more responsibility to be more alert to report of school repair needs," Soeparmo said.

"Now I can telephone mayors when I see a news report of damaged schools, and the mayors say they will act immediately," he said.

The agency, he added, is also suggesting to the municipality that as of next year principals should be allotted at least Rp 3 million a year for school building maintenance costs.

This will enable schools to make minor repairs immediately instead of having to let damage become unnecessarily worse.

"Currently principals only have the 'education operational assistance aid' from the central government, which is Rp 750,000 a year," Soeparmo said.

The scarce resources are said to be the source of frequent complaints from parents. They say that city-owned schools, though relatively cheap, demand an unpredictable variety of fees. Among these are picnic contributions, money to buy chalk and funds to replace light bulbs.

To overcome this problem the agency has also proposed that teachers' and parents' associations draw up annual proposed budgets, Soeparmo said. (anr)