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Aceh students still waiting for completion of permanent schools

Source
Jakarta Post - November 30, 2006

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Students and teachers can still remember the moment they had to immediately remove their chairs and desks from their school, the No. 99 Neusu Elementary School in Banda Aceh, which was to be demolished by heavy machinery for reconstruction the next day.

"Those at Unicef said that our school was no longer strong due to the earthquake, and that it had to be rebuilt immediately," recalled a teacher, Rosmawardani, 38, referring to the powerful earthquake which sparked the tsunami in late 2004.

She said that the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (Unicef) would build a new and better school with separate toilets for male and female students, well-equipped laboratories, a large compound and other facilities on a par with schools abroad.

And, students were told that until the school is rebuilt, for the time being the 135 pupils must attend lessons under a tent.

The event took place more than a year ago, but the school building has yet to come to fruition, despite the fact that students and teachers have been holding classes under the tent for more than a year.

"We just moved to this temporary building in October. Earlier, we had to learn under a tent and even hold examinations there during the rain," added Rosmawardani.

The students and teachers are actually in urgent need of a permanent school, but due to a number of technical problems, construction work had only started in February, only reaching the cement flooring stage of the second floor, meaning it would not be completed in time for the December deadline.

The students and teachers even reached the point where they became fed up. Many students suffered skin diseases. Dozens of students had decided to move to another school because they could no longer stand attending classes in the tent.

"We need a good school, but must we wait this long?" asked another teacher, Zubaidah, 50.

A number of teachers cited many schools that had been built later and were almost completed.

"But, we are now somewhat relieved to have moved to the temporary school, at least conditions are better. We are now only waiting for the new school to be finished," said Zubaidah.

Unicef's Education Unit project officer Muhammad M. Fall acknowledged that his office had encountered a number of problems in the reconstruction and renovation of hundreds of schools in Aceh.

Unicef will build 367 schools in Aceh in the form of Child Friendly Schools which will have good lighting and will be equipped with libraries, children's playgrounds and facilities for disabled students.

"Unicef is not the only agency building schools in Aceh, but is among hundreds of other relief agencies," Fall told the Post.

The accelerated reconstruction process in Aceh has caused the price of building material to swell and a scarcity of construction workers. Other persisting problems are the unavailability of land and pressure from residents for the speedy completion of resettlement houses.

"We are committed to complete the construction of schools. We will rebuild better schools than those before the tragedy," added Fall.

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