Spirit remain high among Acehnese students

Nani Farida, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The ongoing war between government forces and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) means a hard time for students in the province, which has seen about 500 school buildings razed in arson attacks.

However, the crisis has not lessened the Acehnese student's desire to continue their studies.

Learning activities in the state elementary school SDN 1 Tanoh Abee in Seulimun, Aceh Besar, and state senior high school SMUN 2 Ganda Pura Bireuen are examples of how enthusiasm has remained with the students.

Students of SD 1 Tanoh Abee, whose school was burned down soon after the military operation to crush GAM rebels began on May 19, have been studying inside a building with plastic walls and a corrugated iron roof. The Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) helped build the temporary school.

"At noon, it is very hot, but I am happy as I am able to continue my studies," Rahmah, one of the students, said.

Another student, Seulimun, agreed. "Although it is just an emergency school, it doesn't matter as long as we can study," she said.

Teachers at the school expressed their delight at resuming their jobs.

"Students received their academic reports and certificates very late. But it doesn't matter as the enrollment period for junior high school and senior high school has been extended to June 31," a teacher said.

The teacher, who requested anonymity, said teachers had to rewrite their students' academic reports, which were destroyed during the arson attack. He was worried that his students would be unable to enter higher schools.

In SMUN 2 Ganda Pura, local people joined hands to rebuild the school, instead of relying on the government.

"Local people helped rebuild the school by providing sand, cement and coconut trees to provide students with a better place to study," a teacher said.

Before the school was rebuilt, the students had to study under the trees to escape the heat. Sessions were often affected by rain.

SMUN 2 building was burned down in 2002, but the Aceh administration, which allocated Rp 700 billion for education that year, never renovated the school.

At present, there are about 40,000 Acehnese students who have stopped studying or have to study under emergency conditions since the military operation began.

The government has started rebuilding some of the destroyed schools but their number remains few as the war still continues. PMI also provided emergency tents for students.

Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh, who had just returned from the national meeting of governors, said on Friday fellow governors from other provinces in Indonesia had agreed to help the provincial administration rebuild the schools.

"One governor will provide funds to reconstruct one destroyed school," he said, adding that once the renovation of the school was completed, the school would be named after the donor province.

Puteh said that about 1,000 school buildings had been set on fire in the past five years in the conflict-plagued province, with 500 being destroyed since the war began alone.