War has not lessen Aceh students' desire to study

War has not lessen Aceh students' desire to study

Ibnu Mat Noor, Banda Aceh

It only took 15 of 120 minutes for Ardiansyah and Firda Nazira,
fifth graders at elementary schools in a remote district of Aceh
Besar regency, to answer 30 questions of a national physics test.

The next day, they were named the winners of the regency's
elementary level Physics Olympics, which was participated in by
40 contestants at the Jantho Study Course Studio here.

Ardi, from Jantho Elementary School, 60 kilometers east of
Banda Aceh, and Firda, from Lambada Klieng Elementary School, 10
kilometers east of Banda Aceh, have been chosen to represent Aceh
Besar regency at the elementary level Physics Olympics in Aceh
Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam province, which are being held on
Saturday.

On that same day at the Jantho studio, 40 elementary school
students took part in the Aceh Besar regency Mathematics Olympics
qualifying round. Mahfuddin and Yanti, both fifth graders at
Garot Elementary School (about 15 km south of Banda Aceh), won
the qualifying round. The two will now represent Aceh Besar
regency at the provincial Mathematics Olympics in Banda Aceh.

"The top four participants from 80 students from 20 regencies
and mayoralties will be chosen to represent Aceh at the National
Mathematics and Physics Olympics in Pekanbaru, Riau, in August,"
Arifin from the Aceh Education Office told The Jakarta Post.

He said many of the province's most talented students came
from remote villages, where learning and teaching were carried
out irregularly during the armed conflict in Aceh.

Test materials for the elementary school students were
formulated by education consultants at Syiah Kuala University in
Banda Aceh according to national standards, said Arifin.

Not only are elementary school students from remote villages
representing their regencies at the Physics and Mathematics
Olympics, but many bright junior high school students from
outlying villages will also be competing in math, physics and
biology, the head of the quality improvement program at the Aceh
Education Office, Abdul Razak, said.

"Even though there is a lack of learning facilities, it has
apparently not lessened the spirit of junior high students in
remote districts that are prone to armed conflicts for competing
with students from bigger cities," said Syamsul.

The head of high school affairs at the provincial education
office, Anwar Muhammad, said two students from every regency
would be selected for the high school-level Olympics in five
categories: mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and computer
sciences.

The selection process for the high school level was completed
on June 7 and the results are being processed by a National
Olympics team of judges in Jakarta. "Those selected will
represent Aceh in the National Olympics in Pekanbaru in August,"
said Anwar.

Last year, three high school students from Aceh reached the
national level in the math and biology categories. They studied
at Tapaktuan and Kaway high schools in the remote area of
Patranusa, Aceh Tamiang regency.

"Obviously, many promising students come from schools in
isolated areas where there is a lack of good teachers and
laboratory equipment," said Anwar.

More than 1,157 schools have been destroyed by fire in Aceh
over the last five years, said the head of the education office
in Aceh, Anas M. Adam.

As many as 547 schools were burned down during the four years
prior to martial law being declared in Aceh, while during the
year of martial law from May 2003 to May 2004, 610 schools were
gutted by fire, he said.

Martial law was recently lifted and now Aceh is under a civil
emergency administration. But armed battles between the
Indonesian Military and the Free Aceh Movement still
continue.

"The saddest thing is that during the ongoing conflict,
textbooks and lab equipment were often burned in the fires," he
said.

Anas said he was proud the students still were enthusiastic
about learning even with many of their schools in a state of
disrepair.