Eleventh-grader Aufa Achmad Bagas tried to get comfortable on his tiny chair while studying in a classroom at state elementary school SD 12 in Kalibata, South Jakarta, on Thursday afternoon.

'€œIt is so uncomfortable. We'€™re too big for these chairs,'€ he said.

Aufa, a student at state high school SMA 55 in Duren Tiga, South Jakarta, is one the school'€™s 831 students who have to study at four nearby elementary schools because their own school was demolished in July last year and the rebuilding was halted in December.

'€œOur school schedule is also messed up,'€ he said.

The high school students generally have classes at 1 p.m. after the juniors wrap up their day. However, they also have arts and physical education classes in the morning at a community hall in Kalibata. Those who live far from the area have to hang around for hours between classes.

Aufa'€™s classmate Yuanda Z. Virgiyanti said the hectic schedule had disrupted their education. '€œWe are unable to have study groups as we don'€™t have rooms to use,'€ she said, adding that some extracurricular activities had also stopped.

The renovation of 24 schools, including SMA 55, in Jakarta has been halted this year because the funds to complete them were not included in this year'€™s city budget.

SMA 55 principal Marihot Malau said that the school also rented three rooms in Jakarta and Bekasi, West Java, to store their equipment and used the back office of the community hall as a temporary administrative office. '€œThe most worrying thing now is we don'€™t have funds to pay for the electricity and rental of those rooms,'€ he said.

Marihot said the Education Agency had given them Rp 50 million (US$4,400) when they moved but the funds had been spent on rent and the cost of moving the equipment. '€œWe'€™re running out of money now and we cannot use the [education operational aid] as it is rigidly allocated,'€ he said.

The principal said he was afraid that the school would not receive any new students if the development of the school buildings remained uncertain.

'€œThe renovations have been halted since December and I have not seen any progress,'€ he said, adding that he had reported the situation to the agency.

Head of the Education Agency Lasro Marbun said that besides SMA 55, 23 other schools were also suffering the same difficulties as the funding for the renovations were not allocated in the 2014 city budget.

Last year, Rp 470 billion was allocated for the renovation of 56 schools. Each school received funds ranging from Rp 500 million to 26 billion, SMA 55 got Rp 7 billion.

Lasro said he was especially concerned about the situation as the national exams were nearing. On Monday, 12th graders will take their national exam.

The newly installed agency head said that according to reports from his subordinates, many renovations were incomplete because the budget was cut. He did not specify the reason behind the cut. '€œThe problem got even worse as the agency did not include the renovations in this year'€™s budget,'€ he said.

If the agency had wanted to continue the renovation of the 24 schools, it should have submitted proposals to the City Council before the end of last year. For some reason, the agency, then led by Taufik
Yudi Mulyanto, did not propose the budget.

Lasro said it was too late to propose the budget now. '€œThe best we can do right now is make sure that the allocation for the school renovations is discussed in the 2015 city budget,'€ he said.

Lasro said he had reported the case to Jakarta Governor Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo but had yet to receive a response. '€œI have to find ways to make sure the schools can function as best as possible while waiting for their buildings,'€ he said.

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