Task Force Accelerates Renovation of Disaster-Affected Schools to Maintain Students' Learning Enthusiasm

Disasters of a hydrometeorological nature that struck Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra at the end of last year also impacted educational facilities in those three provinces. Data from the Task Force for Accelerating Post-Disaster Rehabilitation and Reconstruction in Sumatra records 4,922 affected educational facilities. Aceh is the region with the highest number of impacted educational facilities at 3,120 units. In North Sumatra, there are 1,149 affected units. Meanwhile, West Sumatra records 653 affected units. Nevertheless, the teaching and learning process in all three provinces is now running at 100 per cent. Most classrooms have been successfully restored by the Task Force. Aceh reports that 3,046 educational facilities have resumed learning in their original classrooms. In North Sumatra, 1,133 units have also resumed learning in original classrooms. West Sumatra records 640 units that have returned to learning in original classrooms. The Task Force is also continuing to restore classrooms so that suitable facilities can maintain students’ learning enthusiasm, who are still conducting lessons in tents, emergency classrooms, or borrowing space in other schools. Task Force Chairman Tito Karnavian acknowledges that there are still less-than-ideal conditions faced by students for learning. Tito revealed that efforts to restore educational facilities are continuously being carried out by the Minister of Basic and Secondary Education Abdul Mu’ti. In fact, cooperation agreements have already been made between the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education and parties that will renovate the educational facilities. “The Minister of Basic and Secondary Education has stated that more than 1,000 educational facilities already have cooperation agreements for repairs. However, he is using a priority scale, with the most severely damaged ones addressed first,” said Tito in Jakarta on Wednesday, 25 March 2026. On the other hand, the enthusiasm to continue learning is also expressed by students in the affected areas. One of them is Nuraiche, a student at SMA Negeri 2 Meureudu, Pidie Jaya. Although her school is still affected by the disaster, the 12th-grade student claims to remain enthusiastic about returning to school. She and her friends are now focused on preparing for the End-of-Year Class Exam (UKA) scheduled for 13 April. “We are still studying as usual because we also have exams,” she said on Monday, 30 March 2026.