"Residents in the northern part of Cianjur are most affected by the quake. Among them are 60 per cent of students. Some cannot resume their class, and others get affected by the quake," Cianjur District Education, Youth, and Sports Office Head Akid Ibrahim informed ANTARA here Sunday.
He said that the first phase of the school activities resumption would involve only students not affected by the quake.
"Starting tomorrow (November 28), those who are not affected by the quake can get back to school normally. Students affected by the quake will not join the school activities," Ibrahim said.
He said the school activities in the first phase will focus on improving their psychological conditions, as some students might still be traumatised by the disaster.
Several schools may remain closed until the condition becomes more conducive, he added.
"Teachers affected by the quake must be relocated to safer areas, and their needs must be fulfilled," the official noted.
The second phase is to facilitate psychological recovery for victims by organising school activities at makeshift shelters in open spaces, he said.
"Next week, we will intensify trauma healing for students at refugee shelters," Ibrahim said.
He disclosed that the third phase would be an evaluation to optimize school activities for students by considering the earthquake conditions.
Regarding the medium of school activities, he said that the authority allowed schools to organise school activities through hybrid means.
Students seeking refuge in their relatives' homes in other cities could attend online classes, while offline activities would be organised only with the school principal's approval, Ibrahim explained.
"We allow schools to select their own means because every school has different condition, while some schools must be relocated due to collapse. Recovery of (students') mental conditions must be assured before continuing to plan the study activities," the office head stated.
Meanwhile, Ibrahim said that the authority is collecting data on damaged schools to be reported to the provincial and central authorities.
He added that 16 experts from the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing have been dispatched to Cianjur to assess school damages.
"If (being asked) when the school will recover completely, it depends on when we receive the assistance, yet the construction works may take 120 days," he remarked.
Related news: 142 school buildings damaged in Cianjur quake: official
Translator: Andi Firdaus, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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