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.
Inadequate education facilities for child tsunami victims
Old school: Young victims of the tsunami study in a damaged school building in Kinumbu hamlet, Mentawai Islands, West Sumatra
Change Size
Old school: Young victims of the tsunami study in a damaged school building in Kinumbu hamlet, Mentawai Islands, West Sumatra.(JP/Syofiardi Bachyul Jb) (JP/Syofiardi Bachyul Jb)
O
span class="inline inline-center">Old school: Young victims of the tsunami study in a damaged school building in Kinumbu hamlet, Mentawai Islands, West Sumatra.(JP/Syofiardi Bachyul Jb)
Darles Soekarno, 6, and Marhan Samaloisa, 11, seemed eager to go to school. The students were wearing full uniform, including caps and red ties, while holding exercise books.
Shortly after gathering in front of the school, the school's only teacher rang the bell. At first glance, the school building looked unsuitable as the wooden panels on the walls were not intact, the dirt floor was level with the school's yard and the desks and chairs were inadequate.
The students were divided into three grades; 11 students in the first and third grades and seven pupils in second grade. The school, located in Kinumbu hamlet, is an auxiliary of SD 13 state elementary school, located 5 kilometers away in Bulasat.
'The children are too young to walk to the parent school, so distance classes were set up near their homes when this hamlet was first established,' said Wistinar Taileleu, who always teaches her classes with her baby in her arms.
'But when they reach fourth grade, they have to attend the parent school,' she added.
Acting principal of SD 13, Libet Sirait, said the students initially studied at the local church, but after residents turned it into a preschool last year, the school students had to move to the current building.
She acknowledged that it was difficult for her to teach and for the students to learn with the very limited facilities.
'It's hot and noisy and the classrooms are unpleasant. We use chalk to write on the blackboards. There's no bathroom or textbook packages provided for us at all,' she lamented.
Wistinar added that the conditions were very different to those at the parent school, which was better equipped.
She expressed hope that the government would repair and upgrade the school facilities for the educational prospects of the young tsunami victims.
They were relocated between 9 km to 12 km away from their original homes following the disaster.
Mentawai Islands Education Office head Sermon Sakerebau said the school had yet to be improved because the central government had not yet approved a proposal for school construction funds.
'It's one of several schools we have asked the government to rebuild, but the proposal has yet to be approved. We plan to turn the filial school into an independent school,' said Sermon.
He said a number of schools should have been built in the hamlets where tsunami survivors now lived. In addition, school buses were also needed as the schools were quite far from students' homes.
The tsunami, caused by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake, displaced more than 2,000 families living on the three affected islands, with South Pagai being the worst hit, where 900 families in 22 villages had to be relocated.
