Represent Regional Culture, Cirebon People's School Has a Special Gate of the Sultanate

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Public Works (PU) carries local cultural architecture in the construction of the People's School (SR) in Cirebon Regency, West Java. One of the prominent features is the Candi Bentar-style gateway design that adopts the typical icon of the Cirebon Sultanate.

Head of the West Java Strategic Infrastructure Implementation Unit, Tomi Hendratno, said that the implementation of the design was aimed at ensuring that the SR area still represented the cultural identity of the region.

"The design of the Cirebon People's School is identical to the culture of the Cirebon Sultanate. We adopted the Candi Bentar gateway design which was then applied to the main gate of the People's School. This is an architectural icon in Cirebon and a characteristic of local culture because almost all government offices in Cirebon also use such a gate concept," said Tomi quoted from a written statement, Wednesday, July 1.

Apart from carrying local cultural elements, SR Cirebon is designed with an efficient layout. Tomi assessed that all building functions could still be accommodated even though the project was built on relatively limited land.

"The advantage of the Cirebon People's School is that the design is very compact by utilizing the available land optimally. No buildings or facilities are reduced, so that all space needs are still met through the layout layout that is maximized," he said.

Minister PU Dody Hanggodo said that all SRs built by the government were designed to have international standards as part of efforts to increase access to education for children from disadvantaged families.

"They not only get education, but also boarding, food, uniforms, shoes to laptops. The hope is to break the chain of extreme poverty and prepare the generation for Indonesia's Gold 2045," he said.

The SR Cirebon is located in Kaliwadas Village, Sumber District, Cirebon Regency. The educational infrastructure was built on an area of 5.4 hectares with a total building area of 27,372 square meters.

The facilities provided include elementary, junior high and high school buildings, male and female dormitories, teachers' apartments, laboratories, canteens, mosques, multipurpose buildings, sports fields and various other supporting facilities.

Senior Vice President of Marketing PT Brantas Abipraya (Persero) Syafriandy said that the contractor implemented a number of strategies to accelerate the completion of the project, including ensuring the availability of materials at the site, increasing manpower, including TNI personnel, and implementing night shifts.

"First we make sure that all materials are available at the project site, so that it can be more efficient in time. The next strategy, we add manpower, including from members of the TNI and implement night shifts so that the completion of the Cirebon People's School can be achieved according to the time frame that has been determined," he explained.

Syafriandy added that the acceleration of work would continue to be carried out by maintaining the quality of construction. One of them is through the use of PVC panel walls in the dormitory.

According to him, before the start of the new school year, his party targeted five dormitory buildings, two school buildings and a number of supporting buildings to be completed and can be functional.