Students in Talise want their school repaired

“When will our school be repaired?” a number of 5th graders at the SD 2 public elementary school in Talise, East Palu, Central Sulawesi asked The Jakarta Post. The question is indicative of the decrepit condition of their school.

Apart from a lack of actual class rooms, cracks have appeared on walls where the paint is peeling. Holes are found in the floor, making learning conditions unpleasant.

One classroom is connected to a rest room which emits a foul smell. It is only equipped with a bucket, where the water inside looks to have changed color. The toilet bowl is rusty, cobwebs hang in the corners and the floor is filthy and smelly.

The school has only four rooms to accommodate 238 pupils and a teaching staff of 18. Such a large number of students would need at least six rooms.

The school authorities have turned to shifting hours between morning and afternoon sessions to facilitate class sessions, with 3rd and 4th grades lessons held in the morning and 1st and 2nd grade instruction in the afternoon.

The reading room is merged with the school’s health facility and administrative office, which is inappropriate for a school located in the provincial capital.

The condition of the school seems to mock the province’s pursuit of a higher standard of education. Some international-standard state schools have already been established in the province. Among them are SMA 1 and 2 state high schools in Palu, SMK 1 and 2 state vocational schools in Palu and the SMP 1 and 2 state junior high schools in Luwuk, Banggai regency.

School principal Mariyati said she had repeatedly asked the government for help to renovate the school, which was built in 1958, but received no response.

“We have frequently made requests to the government, but it has yet to respond,” she told the Post.

Palu deputy Mayor Andi Mulhanan Tombolotutu said his office had included a funds for the school renovation in the 2011 provincial budget, but he declined to comment in detail on the amount earmarked for the initiative.

The education allocation within the provincial budget was Rp 30 billion (about US$3.3 million), in addition to Rp 24 billion from the state budget through the Special Allocation Funds, he said.

“However, the budget is not only for school renovations, but also for textbooks, school laboratories and other educational facilities,” he added.

According to Mulhanan, the Palu municipality is apparently placing infrastructure development at the top of its priority list.

“Every project will be built, but in stages,” he said.

— JP/Ruslan Sangadji