U

nder three-year-old mango trees, 18 first graders were quietly following the day’s lesson, taking notes while looking intently at a whiteboard hanging from a branch. Nearby, under a hazelnut tree, 23 second graders were listening attentively to their teacher in another open air classroom.

Limited money to build classrooms has left the students of SD Filial Pawang Tenun elementary school in the remote enclave of Jerangkit in North Lombok regency, West Nusa Tenggara to study outside among the trees.

“We don’t have enough classrooms. First, second and fifth graders — about 60 students — must take lessons outside,” Raden Abdul Rasyid, one of the school’s teachers, told The Jakarta Post.

“When it rains we move to the mosque so the students don’t get wet,” he said.

Ninety kilometers south of the school in Lombok’s capital, Mataram, the provincial administration is currently constructing an Islamic center worth Rp 500 billion (US$56,155,000).

It is also working on projects to attract tourists to the area, known for its beautiful beaches, and for its location just to the east of Indonesia’s main tourist destination, Bali.

Getting to SD Filial Pawang Tenun is another problem, with limited road access to the remote location.

From Akar-Akar village, one has to follow a damaged asphalt road, a 3-km dirt road and then travel through 2 km of forest before reaching the school, which sits on the northern face of Mount Rinjani.

SD Filial Pawang Tenun comes under the administration of Akar-Akar village, which is 17 km away. But because the school is closer to Sukadana village, located only 7 km away, it relies financially on the main elementary school there, SDN 4 Sukadana.

Set up in 2005, SD Filial Pawang Tenun was formerly under West Lombok regency administration. It was later managed by North Lombok regency, which became autonomous from West Lombok in 2008.

The idea for the school was initiated by Jerangkit residents, who wanted to send their children to a school close by.

School principal Suhaiman Yusuf said many of Jerangkit’s children could not attend school because the main school, SDN 4 Sukadana, was too far away, and many students could not walk that distance in the forest.

Some students had dropped out of school because of the distance, he said.

SD Filial Pawang Tenun was then built on a plot of land donated by the village leader, Raden Masyud.

“At that time we only had two classrooms for the first and second- graders. We had 35 students. The roof was made of grass with bamboo pillars. Everything came from the residents,” Suhaiman said.

“

We don’t have enough classrooms. First,
second and fifth
graders — about 60 students — must take their lessons outside.

”

In early 2008, with more students attending, West Lombok regency provided the school with Rp 30 million to build two new classrooms.

With additional donations from residents, SD Filial Pawang Tenun was able to build three classrooms.

“The classrooms have not been completed so we can’t afford to build new ones. Besides, we depend on the main school for funds,” Suhaiman said.

The school now has 132 students, from first to sixth graders. All are residents of Jerangkit, which is home to 150 families.

Jerangkit villagers generally work on their own coffee or chocolate plantations or lease land to other farmers.

Of the eight teachers at the school, only the principal has civil servant status while the rest are contract teachers. The teachers are mostly local residents.

The contract teachers receive only Rp 100,000 for three months, from funds set aside from the School Operational Assistance Fund (BOS) from the central government. Cash assistance for poor students comes from the provincial administration, and is received by SDN 4 Sukadana since it is the main school.

“Our allowance is from Allah. The sad thing is that my colleague Srianom lives 22 km away. Each day she has to spend Rp 5,000 for gasoline,” Basyid said.

Basyid had hoped that the regency administration would pay more attention to the school, in particular by allowing it to manage its own funds.

“New regents and deputy regents are just being sworn in. We hope they pay attention to our needs,” Basyid said.

Suhaimin pointed out problems resulting from the government’s move in the past three years to stop paying teachers’ salaries in remote areas through the Isolated Area Teachers (Gudacil) program.

He said part of his allowance, at Rp 1.4 million per year, was divided among the contract teachers.

But since the Gudacil program was stopped in 2007 he could not continue to do so, he said.

The school has helped to guarantee 12-year compulsory education in the area, an initiative launched by the province since 2009, and has allowed dozens of local children to attend school.

Suhaimin said last year 18 of the school’s students graduated. Two others could not take the test due to age restrictions.

The graduates found it hard to continue on to junior high school because of the distance of that school, he said.

Of the school’s graduates, six could not continue to junior high because of financial constraints.

“We wanted to use the Rp 3.2 million we received from the government through SDN 4 Sukadana to help those graduates continue to junior high school in Tanjung and Bayan districts.

“The assistance, however, could only be given to those who have relatives who live close to those schools,” Suhaimin added.