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View all search resultsJakarta school renovations win praise, but funding leaves others waiting
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Students take part in a physical education activity outside state elementary school SDN Jati Pulo 07 and 08 in Palmerah, West Jakarta, on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. The Jakarta administration, through the Jakarta Education Agency, recently renovated the school buildings. (Jakarta Administration/Berita Jakarta/Bilal Nugraha Ginanjar)
R
enovated public schools across Jakarta have won praise, but tighter finances are limiting the city’s ability to address its broader backlog of aging school buildings, prompting the administration to seek alternative sources of funding.
State elementary schools SDN Cilandak Barat 08 in South Jakarta is one of the schools to have benefited from the renovation drive. The school had remained largely unchanged since its construction in the 1970s, but now has multiple floors, elevators, modern classrooms and a new soccer field in its courtyard.
Ica, whose first-grade child started at the school after the renovation was completed this year, said she used to pass the old building every day on her commute. Its transformation helped convince her to enroll her child there.
Her nephew, who attended the school as a child and is now a university student, recalled that the school once enrolled roughly twice as many students as its classrooms could accommodate, forcing it to operate in two shifts, morning and afternoon.
The school now operates on a single morning schedule, which Ica welcomed.
"Morning is a must for the kids," the 38-year-old, who asked to be identified only by her nickname, said. "They're fresher. And most parents work in the morning as well, so it makes lives easier for us."
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