Restore the Function of Education, Cleaning the Wood Chips of the Ponpes Darul Mukhlisin

Three people walk inside the Pondok Pesantren Darul Mukhlisin area in Aceh Tamiang, Aceh, Saturday (24/1/2026). ANTARA/Harianto

JAKARTA - After cleaning thousands of logs of wood from the remnants of the flash flood, the Darul Mukhlisin Islamic Boarding School (Ponpes) in Aceh Tamiang Regency, entered the next rehabilitation phase to gradually restore the function of education and dormitory for students.

The head of the Ponpes Darul Mukhlisin Mulkana said that the continued rehabilitation of the Ponpes had been discussed with the Presidential Chief of Staff Muhammad Qodari during a direct visit on Thursday, January 15 in the area.

"We tell all our conditions how we need mobile means for KBM activities (learning activities), as well as dormitory facilities for students to be able to board. The target is that in Ramadan (2026) we can board. So yesterday we also talked, we conveyed to Pak Qodari," said Mulkana when met by Antara in Aceh Tamiang, Saturday, January 24.

According to him, the continued rehabilitation of the ponpes had been discussed by a number of related ministers in the central government and became a special attention to be immediately handled.

"So he (Qodari), yesterday, said that Pondok Darul Mukhlisin was mentioned in the chat of the ministers to focus on helping Darul Mukhlisin," he said.

He said that a large pile of wood that had previously covered the field and the environment of the Ponpes was successfully removed through an intensive operation for almost 20 days using dozens of heavy equipment that worked day and night.

He said that around 30 units of heavy equipment, including clamping excavators and bulldozers, were deployed to cut, lift, arrange, and secure the logs of floodwood to temporary shelters.

The cleaning process involves many parties, ranging from the Ministry of Public Works, construction SOEs, Brimob Polri, TNI, to local government elements.

After the logs and mud were successfully cleaned, all classrooms in the pesantren environment were now declared sterile from mud deposits and ready to enter the stage of repairing learning facilities.

"So all the classes were transported, cleaned by friends from the National Police, TNI. And there are about 30 heavy equipment deployed to a special area in the field water where there are many piles of wood, it was cut, cleaned, arranged and secured in one of the land owned by Haji Zakwan, the owner of our pondok," he said.

Even so, Mulkana said that the area outside the pondok still needed further arrangement, such as leveling the land, filling in the field again, and repairing the channel to be safe from subsequent floods.

Then the logs from the temporary cleaning were secured on the land belonging to the pesantren while waiting for official permission from the local government to be used or managed in accordance with applicable regulations.

According to him, after this massive cleaning, the attention of the central government is getting stronger, marked by the visit of the Presidential Chief of Staff and his team to directly review the conditions of the boarding school.

During Qodari's visit, according to Mulkana, the government mapped the needs for further rehabilitation, especially the procurement of class mobililers, dormitory facilities, toilets, and facilities to support student learning activities.

"Yesterday, we were still mapping, what we said was still general, later the ministry and the government would describe what they felt they needed to be helped first. If we say, we need learning facilities, dormitory facilities," he said.

Darul Mukhlisin Islamic Boarding School currently accommodates 205 SMP and SMA level students and is supported by 52 teacher and staff councils. Mulkana hopes that all facilities will soon recover so that learning and boarding activities can resume before Ramadan 2026.

Meanwhile, learning activities at the Darul Mukhlisin Islamic Boarding School have resumed. However, the students are not yet able to stay in the dormitory and still have to go back and forth because the conditions of the male and female dormitories are not yet suitable for habitation and still need to be rehabilitated gradually.