After tsunami, schools reopen to hope and loss
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia -- One month after the earthquake and tsunami struck with deadly force, the province today marks a major point in its rebuilding: the reopening of several thousand schools.
In a first-grade classroom at the Madrasah Ibtidaiyah Negeri, like at so many schools, cleaners rushed to put things in order. They shoveled six inches of mud out the door, washed the ceramic tile floor, and even hung a class picture taken before the tsunami.
Except that the teacher in the picture, a woman wearing a white headscarf named Jusriani, died in the great disaster.
And visible from the classroom window, wedged in the schoolyard debris, was a man's body. Workers said it was one of several on the property they haven't been able to pull out.
''Somebody has to take that body, but I don't know who can do it. Children will soon be here, and they are already traumatized," Nurlaila, 48, a second-grade teacher, said yesterday. Like many Indonesians, she goes by one name.
As she gingerly walked away from the classroom, stepping on planks bearing rusty nails and packed dirt, she said, ''I'm glad school is reopening, but I think it will be very hard."
Indonesian government officials acknowledged yesterday that many problems remain in getting the schools opened, and the difficulties may last for weeks or months. But they and international officials said children need to return to their books and teachers, and that school would give a psychological boost to them and their families.
''This is a very important step toward the recovery of children," said Gianfranco Rotigliano, UNICEF's country representative. ''Getting a child back into a safe learning environment is crucial after such a destructive event."
Of the school reopenings, Rotigliano said, ''It's about establishing a routine. It's about establishing their life."
But the task seemed overwhelming for a place still distributing emergency food and supply aid and still discovering more than 1,000 bodies a day. So far, the province has buried 95,992 bodies from the tsunami, and an estimated 132,000 are missing.
The government estimated that between 765 and 1,100 schools in the province were destroyed in the tsunami; 177,000 children had studied in those schools. It said 1,747 primary school teachers are dead or missing. The government, along with international groups, are now recruiting 2,500 teachers, and will start training as soon as possible.
The rush means school will start in tents for some children today. Many will have to find money for a bus ride. And several schools, which have become villages for the displaced, must be emptied before classes can begin.
At Lampeuneurut Elementary School, about 400 people from six destroyed villages wondered what to do with their eviction order. A government representative said they must be out by today, but they had no place to go. The International Committee of the Red Cross was working to put up tents for them in a nearby camp.
One village chief, Baharuddin, wasn't happy. Vast majorities in all six communities had perished, and the survivors, he said, bore deep pain. His village of Lam Teungoh, had 1,350 residents, but just 245 survived. ''I, myself, am alone. I lost my five children. I lost my wife, my father, my mother, my three little brothers, my older sister," he said blankly.
''I think it's too soon for the government to relocate us," Baharuddin said. ''I know school is important. But our lives are also important. We lost everything. We lost all our homes. We lost everything in our homes."
The schoolmaster, Mukhlis, 46, said he understood the villagers' situation, but also believed they should move as soon as possible. He had opened his school two weeks ago, after a district school board told some local schools that they could start lessons before today's formal opening.
He said his biggest issue wasn't the displaced people, but rather the students' trauma.
''A lot of them have teary eyes," Mukhlis said. ''A lot lost their parents, lost their families. We try to encourage them, to soothe them. We sing. We talk about religion. We draw."
For many students, and parents, today's reopening was eagerly anticipated.
''My daughter is very excited," said Hadiah, 37. Her daughter, Rozateunjinan, 13, was in the sixth grade, and they are living in a camp built on a mosque's grounds just outside Banda Aceh. ''My only problem is I don't know where her school is. They just told us the name of the school today, and now we have to find it."
''We can't wait," said Anita, 18, who walked out of the camp with two of her friends, Amina, 19, and Murni, 20. They were in the third year of high school. ''We want to become teachers for our fellow Acehnese. We also want to be clever and speak English."
At the Madrasah Ibtidaiyah Negeri, the elementary school, a grim hand-written warning will greet the students today: ''There are still dead bodies that are not evacuated!!"
Today brings many unknowns for those running the school. One is the composition of the student body. The school used to have 1,350 students, but only 250 students had registered by yesterday. As far as officials know, 14 of the 55 staff members died; 13 of the dead were teachers.
Another unknown is how the school will function. The computers were ruined. The library is wiped out. The toilets don't work. The cafeteria has been cleaned, but none of the equipment could be saved.
Nurlaila, the second-grade teacher, said she tried contacting her 50 students. She reached less than half. ''I found some had fled to Medan, some to Jakarta," she said, referring to the country's third largest city and its capital. ''Some are here, and some are not here anymore."
The calls to her students, she said, brought new sadness.
''They are like my children," she said. ''There was one child I couldn't reach, and then a neighbor told me the whole family had died."
She said, though, she eagerly awaited the children, whoever shows up. ''We're ready to be teachers again," she said. ''We really care about our students."
John Donnelly can be reached at donnelly@globe.com
