Thousands of school buildings in disrepair

JAKARTA (JP): More than 100,000 elementary school buildings across the country are in a state of serious disrepair as a result of old age and poor maintenance, a legislator reported on Saturday.

Engkoswara, the deputy chairman of House of Representatives Commission VII for education, confirmed that 60 percent of 170,000 elementary school buildings surveyed across the country were in poor condition.

"We found in our recent visits to several provinces such as Central, West and East Java, Lampung and West Kalimantan...that some buildings had already collapsed and been abandoned," Engkoswara told The Jakarta Post.

Aside from 102,000 damaged buildings, the commission also found that 20,000 elementary school buildings had been closed down or put to other uses due to a lack of pupils.

"The problems arose mainly because of poor planning, poor management and physical factors such as land condition. Some of these schools were constructed in 1974 and have not been renovated since.

"Some of the newer buildings are now in a run down state due to poor maintenance...many members of staff at the schools don't realize how important it is to care for the buildings. They think, 'it's the government's money, anyway.' Their mentality is all wrong."

He said that pupils of the affected schools had either been transferred to nearby schools or forced to share classrooms in safer parts of the condemned buildings in rotation with other classes.

"Teachers and students were afraid that the buildings could collapse...many students (whose schools were in a state of disrepair) did not attend school and left without a proper education."

Engkoswara cited several factors which had contributed to the declining number of pupils, including the success of family planning programs and the high drop out rate resulting from the economic crisis.

On Friday, a Ministry of Public Works official was quoted by Media Indonesia daily as saying that only 25 percent of the country's 170,000 elementary school buildings were in good condition. The official, Gembong Priyanto, added that around 50 percent of the buildings were in a state of serious disrepair.

Engkoswara also said that a lack of coordination between the ministries of education and public works had contributed to the poor condition of the country's school buildings. "Decisions to construct school buildings were often taken without adequate consultation resulting in poor planning and the use of unsuitable sites."

As an example, he cited Sukasari in Bandung, where there are five elementary schools each with a small number of pupils.

"Such a waste. The authorities could have made better use of the land by building a playground or a sports complex," he said.

The government recently announced plans to renovate 3,000 elementary school buildings in 200 districts around the country. Sixty percent of the schools will be in Java.

Gembong said that Rp 434 billion of the social safety net funds allocated to fund education projects would be used to finance the renovations. (edt)