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Indonesia Quake: Students’ School Spirit Strong in Pasir Jinjing
Nivell Rayda | September 08, 2009

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Tasikmalaya. If there was one thing that last week’s devastating earthquake failed to destroy, it was the eagerness of students from a small village in West Java to continue their studies.

Under the shade of a plastic tent right next to their school that lay in ruins, the students sat for the day’s lesson.

All of the students of State Elementary School No. 2 in the village of Pasir Jinjing, in Tasikmalaya’s Cigalontang subdistrict, were already at home when the quake struck.

“I can’t imagine [what would have happened] if they were [in school],” Rakhmat Hakimudin, a sixth grade teacher at the school, said as he showed the collapsed roof in one of only six classrooms. Situated on the top of a hill, the school is vulnerable to even the weakest of temblors.

“Even I was too afraid to go inside,” said third grade teacher Esih Sukaesih. “The walls are now misaligned with the ceiling. I fear that it could collapse any minute.”

However, she and her colleagues were surprised on Thursday morning to find about 60 students out of the usual 149 showed up.

“I was crying,” she said. “These children walked for kilometers to get to school despite the fact that their homes were also damaged or even destroyed by the quake.”

Those who did not come were either forbidden by their parents to do so or moved with their families to other areas.

Cigalontang was one of the worst-hit areas, the hilly slopes of the area making it vulnerable to landslides. It is the site where many people are still missing beneath the ruble and landslides.

The teachers, however, did not know what to do with the students because classrooms were destroyed, and had no option but to send them home.

“Some students came back with their parents and brought with some ropes and plastic mats used for drying rice, which they turned into a tent,” Rakhmat said. “As long as the students are protected from the sun or rain, we have outdoor classrooms.”

The school, Rakhmat said, can only teach the children religious studies. It is the only subject where the first graders can mix with the six graders.

“I don’t know what we will do after Ramadan,” Rakhmat said. “There has been no help from the local government.”