Padang school to be repaired with Lebanese aid

Antara News, Monday, January 11, 2010 21:16 WIB

Padang, W Sumatra (ANTARA News) - Elementary School 38 in Padang which was heavily damaged by the 30 September 2009 earthquake will be rehabilitated with financial assistance from Lebanon, a local education official said.

"The Lebanese assistance will be given to the school through the Indonesian Ambassador to Lebanon, Bagas Hapsoro, on Tuesday," HM Nur Amin, head of Padang city`s education office, said on Monday.

He said he did not know exactly the amount of the Lebanese assistance. "I do not know the exact amount. I also do not know whether it is aid from the Lebanese government or the Lebanese people," said Nur Amin.

According to Nur, many schools affected by the temblor in Padang still needed to be repaired, Most of their students were still studying in tents and emergency buldings.

Therefore, he said, it was hoped many more parties would provide financial assistance to repair damaged schools in Padang.

"We can not rely on Padang city`s regional budget to rehabilitate school buildings, because the budget is very limited, "he said.

He said his office had been allocated a budget of Rp22 billion for 2010. Most of the funds were to be used for routine activities, the implementation of the National Examination, and enrolment of new students.

Since the earthquake on September 30, education aid from outside West Sumatra had been flowing to the city of Padang. On January 8, 2010, Southeast Sulawesi Governor Nur Alam, also gave assistance worth Rp3.2 billion for the reconstruction of Junior High school (SMP) 29 Nanggalo.