TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
City to close school to make way for street
Time break: Students are seen in the yard of vocational high school SMKN 38 located at the intersection of Jl
Change Size
T
span class="inline inline-center">Time break: Students are seen in the yard of vocational high school SMKN 38 located at the intersection of Jl. Kebon Sirih and Jl. Adul Muis in Central Jakarta. The city administration plans to shut down the school to widen Jl. Abdul Muis to ease traffic congestion in the area. JP/DON
The city administration plans to shut down SMKN 38, a state vocational high school located at the intersection of Jl. Kebon Sirih and Jl. Abdul Muis, Central Jakarta, in order to widen Jl. Abdul Muis and ease traffic congestion in the area.
Though the plan was announced over a month ago, SMKN 38 administration head Suratno said that the city administration had yet to follow-up on the plan, leaving the school in limbo.
'Neither the city Public Works Agency nor the Culture and Education Agency have informed us regarding the schedule for demolition,' Suratno told The Jakarta Post recently.
During the evening rush hour, Jl. Abdul Muis is often jammed with vehicles, as it connects Jakarta's government complex in Merdeka Square, Central Jakarta with Jl. KH Mas Mansyur, Central Jakarta; which is one of the main arteries linking Central Jakarta to East Jakarta and South Jakarta .
Therefore, Suratno said, the city administration decided it could alleviate traffic congestion by closing the school and widening the street.
Moreover, Suratno said that the agencies had yet to tell the school where it would be relocated.
'We're anxious because there is no certainty. What if they suddenly come one day and knock down the building? What will happen to the students?' he said.
The school, Suratno added, is 1,671 square meters (sqm) wide. Once the school is demolished and development finished, the school would have only have 400 sqm remaining.
'At 1,671 sqm, the school is already too small for 330 students and 34 employees, which includes teachers, administrators and janitors. How can we survive with 400 sqm?' Suratno said.
He added that the school had not informed students' parents because they did not want them to worry about the future of their children's education.
'If we inform the parents, they will become worried and they will protest. We will wait for the schedule from the agencies before officially informing them,' Suratno said.
Meanwhile, Jakarta Education Agency head Lasro Marbun said that he too had not yet been informed by the Public Works Agency of the schedule.
'The education agency will be responsible for the relocation and the Public Works Agency will be responsible for the demolition. [The Public Works Agency] doesn't have a set schedule for the demolition yet,' he said.
He added that students of SMKN 38 would eventually be relocated to an unused elementary school building in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta. However, he said, the building needed renovation.
'For the upcoming school year, the students of SMKN 38 will temporarily study at [state vocational high school] SMKN 27 in Sawah Besar, Central Jakarta, until the renovation of the elementary school building has been completed,' Lasro told the Post recently.
He added that SMKN 38 would continue to function as a school even though it would not have its own building over the next several months.
'I will personally ensure that the school gets what it needs quickly,' Lasro said.
Representatives from the Public Works Agency were not available for comment. (dwa)
