Education Rehabilitation in Aceh (ERA) Program

Background

Aceh lost 2,500 teachers in the tsunami, and more than 2,100 schools were damaged or destroyed. Of those, over 1,500 were primary schools and nearly 300 were junior secondary schools. In total, approximately 150,000 students lost access to education facilities. Students and teachers also suffered terrible personal losses, with 3,000 teachers and staff losing their homes. Some 46,000 students were living in temporary shelter immediately after the disaster.

The priority in the education sector is to re-establish functioning services through school reconstruction, re-establishing administrative functions, workforce planning and training, and providing basic equipment. The Aceh Rehabilitation Program: Education Rehabilitation in Aceh (ERA) program was developed in response to this need.

Enabling children to return to school was important to their recovery. The first task was to provide text books and furniture, block grants for immediate rehabilitation of infrastructure, and trauma support training for teachers. A longer term program of activities in the education sector comprises significant work in reconstruction of schools, as well as capacity building within the sector.

Description

The longer-term program re-establishes functioning education services in Aceh through four broad program areas: school reconstruction, teacher support and training, education materials and support grants to retain children in the school system, and support for re-establishing education administration and management. The program provides assistance across the education sector in Aceh, with an emphasis on the Islamic education sub-sector where many of the poorest children are educated and where few other donors are operating.

Achievements/outcomes to date

• Five education facilities have been reconstructed over nearly 2 years - major school reconstruction or rehabilitation is underway or is about to begin in 11 more facilities – this includes supplying furniture and equipment, classroom teaching materials and resources.
• Ongoing assistance and coordination with the Ministry of Religious Affairs (MoRA) and national, provincial and district education departments on skills development for teachers, improving systems, processes and managing the reconstruction effort .
• Assistance in the development of the Aceh Provincial Education Plan.
• Delivery of 10,000 textbooks and over 880 sets of school desks and chairs.
• A centre for teacher training constructed at Syiah Kuala University, and teacher training in 32 schools in core curriculum subjects such as Maths, Science and English.
• Provision of 72 small grants to primary schools and boarding schools for school improvements.
• Library at Banda Aceh’s Islamic University rehabilitated.
• 6,000 textbooks provided to universities.

The ERA Program values stakeholder consultation and engagement and works closely with provincial authorities, district heads and local communities to identify, select and scope work. Key stakeholder bodies established under the program play an important role in identifying and developing program activities. These bodies will also provide a key monitoring and evaluation function in assessing the effectiveness of the program in achieving sustainable improvement in the education of people in Aceh.

This page was last updated on 25 January 2007

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