East Java 4 People's School (SR) development in Banyuwangi Regency is not only focused on accelerating the completion of buildings and educational facilities.
The Ministry of Public Works (PU) has also prepared a special protection system to anticipate potential flooding because the location of the school is near the river.
Minister PU Dody Hanggodo said that mitigation steps had been taken since the construction phase through the installation of a retaining wall and the construction of a retaining wall to protect the school area and its supporting facilities.
"There are several special treatments. The parapet has been installed and will be added to the water retaining wall," said Dody, quoted from a written statement, Wednesday, June 17.
"So if there is a big flood and the water still passes, there is still additional protection so that it does not hit buildings, including the teacher's dormitory," he added.
Dody assessed that the security aspect of the area was an important concern considering that the school was built on an area of 6.8 hectares which is not far from the river.
Therefore, protection for school buildings, dormitories, and teacher housing must be ensured from the beginning.
On the other hand, the construction of SR Banyuwangi is currently being rushed so that it can be functional in the new school year in July 2026. Dody said that the progress of construction has approached 80 percent.
"It's almost 80 percent. The total area is 6.8 hectares. We are trying to finish it by the end of June because there are actually a few jobs in the back," he said.
To pursue this target, the PU Ministry together with service providers has taken a number of acceleration steps.
This starts with the addition of labor, acceleration of the delivery of main materials to the parallel work on architectural, mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) work, as well as the arrangement of the area.
He even asked for the number of workers to be significantly increased so that the progress of construction could increase faster in the last two weeks before the completion target.
"The main problem here is actually the workers. That's why I ask service providers to add workers. If this position is like this, it can't be only 600 or 700 people. At least 900 to 1,000 people, so that the progress can be seen jumping," said Dody.
The Banyuwangi SR was built with a contract value of Rp219.59 billion by the East Java Strategic Infrastructure Unit through the service provider Nindya - Modern KSO.
The education complex is designed as a boarding school with complete facilities.
This includes elementary, middle and high schools, male and female dormitories, teachers' dormitories, multipurpose buildings, mosques, canteens, guest houses, kitchens, pump houses, generator houses, basketball courts, ceremonial fields, and full-standard football fields.
According to Dody, all SRs built by the government are designed with high standards to provide equal educational opportunities for children from disadvantaged families.
"All People's Schools built by President (Prabowo Subianto) are international schools. He wants to honor our younger siblings from the pre-prosperous family by providing a magnificent and quality school. They not only get education, but also boarding, food, uniforms, shoes to laptops," he said.
The SR program is part of the government's efforts to break the chain of extreme poverty through education. Nationally, the Ministry of PU is currently completing the construction of 93 SRs which are targeted to start operating in the new school year in July 2026.
The program is the initial stage of the government's target of presenting around 500 SR throughout Indonesia by 2029, with the goal of each district having at least one SR.
"We hope that the 93 People's Schools that are currently being built can be fully functional in the new school year in July 2026. This will be the beginning of the operation of the People's Schools, which were fully built by the Ministry of PU to support the equitable distribution of quality education throughout Indonesia," he added.
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