Fitri, West Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara – Sweat drips down the children's faces and soaks through their uniforms as they enter their classroom in Batu Mekar ward in West Lombok's Lingsar subdistrict.

"It's like this every day because we live so far from the school," says Mila Herpiana, a sixth-grader at Batu Mekar State Elementary School (SDN) No. 3. "But this is the only school in the area. Besides, it's OK, the sweat dries off soon enough."

Mila is among the 80 students at the school who live in Rumbuk village in Batu Mekar Ward, three kilometers away from the school in Batu Rimba village.

Each day, they have to walk an hour through dense forest just to get to class. Their journey also requires them to cross a rickety bridge over the Skot River, which often swells up and submerges the bridge during the rainy season.

An alternative route, which is passable by motorcycle, skirts the forest and fruit orchards in the area, but it is twice the distance at six kilometers.

In the afternoon, the students have to repeat the exhausting hike to get back home. Many, like Herianda Maulan, often choose to leave their books behind because the added weight makes the trip even more tiring. "The worst parts of it all are the steep inclines and the twisting paths," he says.

The situation faced by the students mirrors the plight of some children in Banten, who also have to contend with dangerous bridge crossings and tricky terrain to get to school.

While media coverage of the Banten cases has prompted authorities and local volunteers to start taking action, in West Lombok the students' ordeal has continued to go unnoticed.

Things are hardly any better for their teachers, most of whom are contract workers and therefore are not eligible for the higher pay and benefits afforded to teachers who enjoy civil servant status.

Muhamadun, the sixth-grade English teacher, lives about eight kilometers away and earns a mere Rp 100,000 ($11) a month, but this doesn't discourage him from coming in to teach every day. "I love these kids," he says. "I make just Rp 100,000 a month now, but I'm waiting to be made a civil servant by the West Lombok administration."

Khairul Fathi, the SDN 3 principal, says despite the school's isolation in the jungle, the children are genuinely willing to show up each day and learn. He attributes their enthusiasm to the dedication of teachers like Muhamadun and others who often volunteer to give lessons in Rumbuk village when the bridge floods over and the children can't get to school.

The message from the school officials and the children to the authorities is the same: they want the bridge fixed so that it no longer floods over. They also want a safer path built through the forest, one that a motorcycle can pass through, so the children aren't exhausted by the time they get to class. In the end, they just want someone to take notice of their plight.