Stand up and be counted: Teacher Mohamad Nurdin holds a class outdoors, with the Hidayatul Athfal Islamic elementary school’s classroom in Nanggung, Bogor, out of order. JP/Theresia Sufa
Seventy-eight students of the Hidayatul Athfal Islamic elementary school in Bogor regency have been forced to have classes in the front yard of a house.
Three years ago, the students were forced to move from the shack that served as their classroom, because the shack was no longer suitable to study in.
The school is in the remote Citalahab village in Nanggung district, 60 kilometers from Bogor municipality.
“We moved out of the dilapidated shack three years ago, and now we’re holding classes out in the open,” says teacher Mohamad Nurdin.
“It it rains or it’s scorching out, we usually move to a nearby mushola [small mosque].”
The students take turns sitting on the plastic sheet laid over the ground. Some use jackets or caps to fend off the burning sun, while others cover their faces with papers.
The school was started in 1991, when children in the village had to move from house to house to study because there was no school.
The nearest one was in Malasari subdistrict, 10 kilometers away.
The villagers then built a bamboo shack in 1995 to house the students.
Citalahab is one of the most remote areas in Bogor regency. Most of the villagers work at the Nirmala Agung tea plantation.
With villagers not able to afford to repair the shack, the students look likely to be learning out in the open for some time to come.
“The villagers can’t afford to buy construction material,” Nurdin says.
He adds he has reported the issue to the education agency, to no avail.
“Agency officials came here once, but they only spent a night in a guesthouse and didn’t visit the school,” he says.
Despite the harsh conditions, the students say they enjoy studying there because they can meet their friends and eat together every day.
“We usually study here from morning until noon, but we sometimes move to the mushola if get’s too hot,” says third-grader Cicih.
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