Jakarta – In democracy, everyone has the right to speak out, including elementary students.

Students of Cipayung, Sukmajaya III, and Mekarjaya XXX state-run elementary schools, rallied in front of the Depok Regional Council building on Wednesday demanding that rebuilding work on their schools be started soon.

The students bore banners with pictures showing debris of their schools, and sang a popular dangdut song, Alamat Palsu (Wrong Address), but changed the original lyrics of "where can I find my lover" into "where are our schools" during the demonstration.

Their schools, which are located on Jl. Tole Iskandar, Sukmajaya, Depok, West Java, were demolished for total renovation in October 2011, but the redevelopment project has yet to be kicked off.

"No construction work has been seen so far," Sukmajaya III principal Amaliah said as quoted by tempo.co on Thursday. Around 761 students from the two schools are now studying at other schools.

Head of the infrastructure unit at the Education Agency, Indah Lestari, said the project had been hampered by lack of funding. However, she promised the schools' redevelopment would be completed by the end of this year as the Depok administration had allotted almost Rp 1.2 billion (US$130,694) to the project. (iwa)