Just 2 Months Of Renovation, SMPN 2 Building Greged Cirebon Has Collapsed, Police Asked To Conduct Investigation

Police inspect the location of the collapse of the SMPN 2 Greged Cirebon building/ Photo; IST

JAKARTA - The collapse of the roof of the classroom and teacher's room at SMPN 2 Greged, Sindang Kempeng Village, Greged District, Cirebon Regency, Friday, January 12 morning, is a reminder of the importance of standardizing school buildings and construction materials they use.

Principal of SMPN 2 Greged, Heriyanto explained that the 2 rooms whose roofs collapsed had just been renovated in October 2022 and were only used for teaching and learning activities in June 2023 because other classes whose conditions had also been badly damaged.

At the time of the incident, the teacher's room had been vacated because previously there was a sound of a sign that it would collapse. However, in the classroom that is being used by 7th grade students, KBM activities are still ongoing. There were 32 students who were studying at that time. The roof of the building that suddenly collapsed finally injured 6 students.

Some students who were injured today have already entered school. But some still haven't entered. He said it was still traumatized," explained Heriyanto in a written statement, Thursday, January 18.

Head of the Cirebon Regency Education Office (Disdik), Roniato previously suspected that the collapse of the roof of the classroom and teacher at SMPN 2 Greged was due to inappropriate building materials.

"Our assumption is that the cause is because the construction uses light steel but the tile uses a concrete tile. So the burden is not comparable," said Roniato in a separate place.

Roniato assessed that if the construction of the building uses light steel, the roof should use metal tiles so that the load is not too heavy. Roniato said that the collapsed classroom building was actually renovated a few years ago. Therefore, he also regretted the incident.

Meanwhile, an education policy observer who is also a Professor at the University of Indonesian Education (UPI), Prof. Dr. Cecep Darmawan said that the recurring collapse of school buildings had to be taken seriously because it could hinder the development of the world of education in the country.

If there is an incident (the school collapses) it means that the government is not serious about dealing with education. There should be standardization (building or renovating schools) because this concerns the safety of students. So this is not a trivial matter. This is one of the reasons why our education world does not progress. Because educational facilities cannot create a sense of security, comfort and freedom from incidents that can harm students, "explained Cecep, when contacted by journalists.

Cecep explained, there are 8 standards in national education, one of which is standard facilities, facilities and infrastructure. He said, the standardization of facilities and infrastructure is not only fixated on size, but also on quality. For this reason, according to him, it is very important in the construction and renovation of school buildings using building materials that have standards (SNI).

The government must evaluate the regulations. Because the education of its authority is a concern or the authority to share. Which is the central authority of the regional authorities. So if SD SMP is the authority of the city district. But what must be remembered is that there is an NSPK (Norm, Standard, Procedure and Criteria). This NSPK determines the central government. So the government must look back at the standardization of school buildings. Don't be below the standard. In other words, the central government for the case of the collapse of the school building must intervene," explained Cecep again.

In the incident of the collapse of the roof of the school building using a light steel frame that allegedly had no SNI standards at SMPN 2 Greged, Cecep assessed, authorities such as the Regional Government and the Police must intervene to conduct a thorough investigation and audit to find out the exact cause of the incident. Moreover, it is known that the roof of the collapsed building was only renovated 1 year ago.

"That's why I said the police had to go down. To ensure that the materials used must meet the standards. If it is below the standard there must be a violation. Therefore, if the government has not required SNI for building materials such as light steel, for example, the government is also wrong. SNI must be an obligation because it concerns safety.," said Cecep.