The Indonesian government has said that it planned to immediately set up makeshift schools in some 95 locations near refugee camps in tsunami-ravaged Aceh to allow students in the tsunami-hit province to resume their education activities.
Minister for National Education Bambang Sudibyo explained that school activities in devastated areas during the first month will be focused more on efforts to deal with psychological and emotional impacts on students, helping them overcome the trauma of the disaster.
"We have also ordered surviving schools (in the province) to accept students from other (damaged) schools, and to set up two shifts, one for the morning and one in the afternoon," he was quoted by The Jakarta Post newspaper as saying.
The massive undersea quake and subsequent tsunami on Dec. 26 washed away many school buildings in Aceh. The province's west coast areas bore the brunt of the disaster.
According to one estimate some 420 school buildings across Aceh were destroyed by the disaster, and some 1,000 teachers died.
The government plans to bring in new teachers from outside the province to facilitate the rehabilitation of the school system in Aceh.
"We have received offers from several universities to send their students to support the education process. State-owned Gadjah Mada University will send some 500 students to the province to teach," Bambang said.
The minister said that for the first few weeks school activities will be focused on psychological healing for the children
"We will begin with the cognitive aspects after they have recovered from the trauma, but we will do our best to ensure that they are not left behind compared to students in the rest of the country," Bambang said.
(Xinhua News Agency January 12, 2005)
