Students Eagerly Welcome New School

The students of SDN 2 Malaka in Pemenang district, North Lombok have moved into their new school building, built using donations from Kompas readers through the Kompas Humanitarian Fund.

KOMPAS/ISMAIL ZAKARIA

Students walk the grounds of the newly rebuilt SDN 2 Malaka elementary school on Thursday (14/11/2019) in Pemenang district, North Lombok. The school, which was destroyed in the Lombok earthquake of August 2018, was rebuilt using donations provided by Kompas readers through the Kompas Humanitarian Fund.

TANJUNG, KOMPAS – More than a year since a series of earthquakes devastated West Nusa Tenggara in 2018, children were still learning in temporary buildings that housed SDN 2 Malaka in Pemenang district, North Lombok. That is now in the past, as the students have moved into their new school building, built using donations from Kompas readers through the Kompas Humanitarian Fund.

The handover ceremony and inauguration of the new SDN 2 Malaka was held on Thursday (14/11/2019). North Lombok secretary Suardi, Kompas chief editor Ninuk Mardiana Pambudy and Kompas Humanitarian Fund (DKK) chairman Rusdi Amral attended the event alongside several local figures and parents.

The DKK has also rebuilt two state elementary schools in East Lombok and West Lombok and a public health clinic in North Lombok, which were all destroyed in the 2018 Lombok quake.

The new buildings that house SDN 2 Malaka stands on a 1,672-square-meter plot located 28 kilometers north of Mataram, the capital of West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) province. The school was destroyed in the magnitude-7 earthquake that struck on 5 Aug. 2018.

KOMPAS/ISMAIL ZAKARIA

North Lombok secretary Suardi (center), accompanied by Kompas chief editor Ninuk Mardiana Pambudy (second right) and Kompas Humanitarian Fund chairman Rusdi Amral (left), take a tour of the library of the newly inaugurated buildings of SDN 2 Malaka elementary school on Thursday (14/11/2019) in Pemenang district, North Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara.

The new school has six classrooms, a faculty room, the principal’s office, a library, a dormitory and four toilets. Each classroom is equipped with a whiteboard, tables, chairs and ceiling fans. The schoolyard is paved.

The faces of the 188 students of SDN 2 Malaka lit up as they saw their new school.

Following the disaster, the students initially continued to attend classes in emergency tents at the local refugee center, about 1 kilometer from the new school. This environment was not conducive to learning.

Sometime within the past year, they were provided with two temporary buildings at the same location. Twenty meters separated the temporary structures. One of the buildings was made of woven bamboo walls and a thatched roof and housed four rooms, while the other was made of wooden walls and a metal roof and had two rooms.

Grade IV students got to use a classroom after the Grade I students had gone home.

Five of the six rooms were used as classrooms, while the sixth was used as a faculty room. This meant that not all grade levels had their own classroom, and the fourth-grade class spent most of the school day studying under a large tree that stood behind the buildings.

“Grade IV students got to use a classroom after the Grade I students had gone home. It was fortunate that it is still the dry season,” said Mohammad Padil, a teacher at SDN 2 Malaka.

KOMPAS/ISMAIL ZAKARIA

Students chat in their new classroom on Thursday (14/11/2019) at SDN 2 Malaka elementary school in Pemenang district, North Lombok. The school, which was destroyed in the Lombok earthquake of August 2018, was rebuilt using donations provided by Kompas readers through the Kompas Humanitarian Fund.

Make the nation smart

North Lombok secretary Suardi expressed gratitude for the new school building that Kompas readers helped fund, saying that it was much better than the old school. The funding for the school showed that all parties were committed to making a “smart nation”.

“May this [new school] improve the quality of the students and help create a generation that is smart, has moral values and obeys existing regulations,” he said.

Kompas chief editor Ninuk expressed her hope that the solidarity demonstrated by Kompas readers would inspire others to contribute to Lombok’s recovery. She also asked the teachers and students of SDN 2 Malaka to look after their new school and its facilities, “So, the facilities can last [many] years and generate future leaders, not just for Lombok but for the nation also.”

“Maybe this [school] will give birth to another Habibie or another Joko Widodo,” she added.

KOMPAS/ISMAIL ZAKARIA

A student leaves the former temporary buildings that housed SDN 2 Malaka elementary school on Thursday (14/11/2019) in Pemenang district, North Lombok regency, West Nusa Tenggara.

SDN 2 Malaka principal Abdul Manap expressed his thanks for the new school. “With the new school, we have greater responsibility,” he said.

The earthquake on 5 Aug. claimed 564 lives and destroyed 216,489 houses. A separate magnitude-6.4 quake hit the province on 29 July 2018, claiming 20 lives and damaging more than 10,000 buildings.

According to the NTB Disaster Mitigation Agency, 830 schools from kindergarten to senior high were damaged in the two earthquakes, of which 204 were located in North Lombok.