Three students left in Poso school

Three students left in Poso school

PALU, Central Sulawesi: Prolonged conflict in Poso regency has
brought down the number of students in an elementary school here
to three. Before the sectarian conflict broke out in 2000, the
school, the Sintuwulemba state elementary school, had over 200
students.

Although the school has currently only three students, classes
are still held as usual. "The school is very quiet, because all
our friends have taken refuge in safer areas," said Dewi, one of
the students.

The principal of the state elementary school, A.M. Rawung,
confirmed on Thursday that there were only three students and
several teachers in the school. "We have taken an oath to serve
the public, so that although there are only three students, we
have to run the school as usual," said the school principal.

The Sintuwulemba subdistrict used to be inhabited by Muslim
transmigrants from Java island, but most of them have taken
refuge elsewhere for fear of bloodshed as occurred in 2000. After
four years, some refugees have now begun to return to the
subdistrict and start a new life. -- JP