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Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo has announced the renovation of 33 schools with an eye on eco-friendly concepts, even as critics point to collapsing and burned-out schools peppering the capital.

“We must constantly raise education standards to keep up in this fast-paced modern age,” Fauzi said at State Senior High School 77 in Cempaka Putih, Central Jakarta, on Thursday.

The renovation of the 13 elementary, 11 junior high, five senior high and four vocational schools will cost Rp 323.7 billion ($35.3 million), with the money coming from the 2008-09 regional budget.

The city has earmarked Rp 5.89 trillion for education in 2010, 24 percent of its budget.

“This is a part of our effort to encourage and stimulate the quality of education,” Fauzi said.

Jakarta Education Agency head Taufik Yudi Mulyanto said the 33 schools were just the start of a wider campaign.

“They represent a small fraction of the 1,678 schools in Jakarta, most of which are more than 30 years old,” he said. “The repairs will go on.”

He added that 230 schools needed major repairs and 163 a complete rebuild.

The agency has allocated Rp 400 billion to renovate 42 schools this year, including those that have collapsed (State Junior High School 273 in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta) or burned down (State Elementary Schools 13 and 14 in Palmerah, West Jakarta).

Fauzi said that beginning next year school repairs would involve “green building standards,” focusing first on reducing energy costs and recycling water and waste.

“The building materials will also be more eco-friendly, with less wood used,” he said, adding that he hoped the concept would also serve an educational purpose for the children.

“Schools that are environmentally oriented will help students develop a sense of love for their environment and a responsibility to protect it.”

Didik Sugandhi, the education agency’s head of facilities and infrastructure, said Semanan State Elementary School in West Jakarta and Cikini 1 State Junior High School in Central Jakarta were pilot projects for the scheme.

“Implementing green building standards is more expensive than conventional standards,” he said. “The Semanan renovations cost Rp 9 billion, while Cikini cost Rp 7 billion. The payoff is in the longer lifetime and lower maintenance costs.”

Tubagus Haryo Karbyanto, deputy chairman of the Jakarta Residents Forum (Fakta), said while commendable, the program should be used to ensure the even spread of quality education across the capital.

“Education standards must be uniform throughout the city,” he said, adding that any physical change to a school would be meaningless if the teaching quality and capacity remained the same.

“The education agency also seems to have overlooked the interaction between schools and their locales,” he said. “Schools are not removed from society. At the end of the day, the students go back into this society.”

A senior researcher at Indonesia Corruption Watch, Febri Hendri, said the agency should engage more with parents and the public to properly monitor the health of aging schools.