SMAN 1 Jonggat Closed After Students Protest Over School Facilities

Hundreds of students from SMAN 1 Jonggat, Central Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, who protested the previous day, have been given a day off. The decision was taken because the school is holding a meeting with teachers and education officials to respond to the students’ aspirations. “We gave them the day off because there is a meeting with the teachers, the head of the education department, and the branch head. It would be difficult if the children were not supervised,” said SMAN 1 Jonggat headmaster Mzahab to journalists on Tuesday (11/8/2026). According to Mzahab, the students’ expression of their aspirations is normal given their school age. The school has chosen to sit down together to find solutions and improve areas that are still lacking. “Alhamdulillah, we are trying to immediately coordinate to restore the situation. Yesterday, the students conveyed their aspirations with enthusiasm and a spirit of finding a joint solution,” he said. Mzahab stated that the students’ delivery of their aspirations must be viewed from the perspective of their age. He noted that what adults might consider inappropriate may not be so from a child’s point of view. However, overall, the school considers the action as material for evaluation. “For children, conveying aspirations like this is normal. If we use adult standards, we might feel it’s lacking or excessive. But for children, we understand. The parameters for their age are indeed like that,” he added. Therefore, Mzahab said, the meeting and coordination were carried out in a spirit of togetherness. The school has also heard all the students’ aspirations and is committed to using them as evaluation material to review services and facilities that need improvement. “We are looking for solutions, not looking for mistakes. These aspirations are good. They serve as a reflection that there are things that need to be fulfilled and things that need to be fixed,” he stressed. However, Mzahab has not yet confirmed whether all the points raised by the students are actual problems. The aspirations still need to be analysed and verified. “We haven’t analysed them yet; not everything is necessarily true. But it’s also impossible that everything is wrong. We will resolve the parts that are lacking,” he said. One of the issues raised by the students concerned electrical facilities. The school said the repair process took time because the technician had not arrived previously. “The electrician hadn’t come since yesterday. But he has arrived now. This means everything takes a process,” he said. According to him, the difference in perspective between adults and children must also be understood when looking at the issue. What adults see as a process of resolution might be perceived differently by students. “They are children, so sometimes their point of view is different. Alhamdulillah, there is a resolution process,” he concluded. Previously, hundreds of SMAN 1 Jonggat students protested about school facilities they deemed inadequate. The protest, which ended in a commotion, took place on the school field after the flag ceremony on Monday (10/8/2026). According to information gathered by detikBali, the students voiced several complaints about school facilities that had not been repaired. These complaints included the toilets, the prayer room, and non-functioning fans in several classrooms. “The toilets and prayer room are still not finished. Some classrooms also have no lights, and the fans are just for show because they don’t work,” said a student who declined to be named on Monday afternoon. Students also complained that the school’s WiFi could not be used to access the internet optimally. They even claimed they were not given any information regarding its access or usage.