Story of Primary School Teacher in NTT Teaching Students Under a Mente Tree Due to Limited Classrooms

A number of students at Tando State Primary School (SDN) in Robo Village, Welak Subdistrict, West Manggarai, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), are forced to conduct teaching and learning activities (KBM) under a mente tree. The reason is the school’s limitation in class groups or classroom space.

The moment when the students were learning under the tree recently went viral on social media. Netizens described the lack of educational facilities as an irony. The school’s location can be reached in about 1.5 hours by land travel from Labuan Bajo.

Marta Jaimun, one of the teachers at the school, recounted the moment of teaching the students under the tree. Class 2 and class 3 students learn under the tree on clear weather days alternately.

“Indonesian language lessons for class 3 are often outside (under the tree) because they are already adept at reading,” said Marta on Saturday (11/4/2026).

Marta said that KBM outside the classroom is carried out under a mente tree or ketapang tree that is not too shady. The students often feel hot as the day progresses and the sun starts to scorch.

“Not too shady. We move around, sometimes under the ketapang, sometimes under the mente tree,” explained Marta.

During the rainy season, Marta said, class 2 and class 3 students usually share one classroom that is only 5x6 metres in size. That classroom was built independently by the parents of the students.

The condition of the room is also concerning, with a dirt floor and walls made of corrugated iron. There is no partition between rooms. Class 2 students, numbering 15, and class 3 students, numbering 10, are forced to learn at the same time in that cramped room.

“If it’s not raining, we take turns (KBM under the tree). If it’s raining, we go into the room and share the class,” added Marta.

Marta said that learning under the tree is specifically for social sciences subjects. Meanwhile, lessons like mathematics are still conducted in the classroom because they require a blackboard for presenting material.

“The children are already used to situations like that,” concluded Marta.

It is known that Marta is the first teacher at the school, which has been operating since 2014. Now, SDN Tando has eight teachers. Meanwhile, the total number of students at the school is currently 173.

The principal of SDN Tando, Fransiskus Jenala, revealed that the moment of students learning under the tree has been ongoing since 2018. Fransiskus explained that SDN Tando has three permanent rooms and one non-permanent room. This non-permanent classroom was built independently by parents in 2016.

“The ones under the tree are students from one room built independently by parents, which we use for classes 2 and 3. The one that went viral recently was the class 3 students because the ones inside the room were class 2,” clarified Fransiskus.

“If class 3 students are learning inside the class, then class 2 learns outside (under the tree),” he added.