Earthquake Disrupts Education in Indonesia’s East Nusa Tenggara as Government Sets Up Emergency Classrooms

Illustration of an emergency school during a disaster situation.

GENREPUBLIKA.COM | EAST NUSA TENGGARA, Indonesia — A powerful earthquake has disrupted education across Indonesia’s eastern province of East Nusa Tenggara, damaging more than 1,300 schools and forcing thousands of students to study from home, online or in temporary shelters. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, which struck the province last weekend, affected 1,378 educational institutions, including 502 schools. More than 177,000 students and 21,000 teachers and education workers have been caught up in the disruption, according to Indonesia’s Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education.

The scale of the damage is significant. Of the 8,664 classrooms affected, 5,521 suffered damage, while 2,229 were classified as severely damaged or completely destroyed. Laboratories, libraries, sanitation facilities and teachers’ homes were also affected. For students, the earthquake has turned a routine part of daily life into an uncertain one. More than 116,000 children have experienced interruptions to their education, as authorities remain concerned about buildings that could collapse during continuing aftershocks.

Rather than risk sending students back into unsafe buildings, local authorities have adopted a patchwork of emergency arrangements. Some 923 schools have moved classes to students’ homes, 171 are conducting lessons online, 35 are operating from temporary classrooms and only 30 have resumed normal face-to-face teaching.

The government is now trying to create a faster alternative to waiting for damaged schools to be rebuilt.

Indonesia’s Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education plans to deploy 100 tents as emergency classrooms, with the first facilities expected to begin operating next week. The government says the temporary classrooms are intended to keep children connected to education while reconstruction takes place. The response goes beyond simply providing a place to study. Officials are also preparing psychosocial support for students and teachers, recognising that children returning to school after a major disaster may need more than books and desks.

The government has allocated 5,000 school kits, 1,500 family kits, 3,956 whiteboards and more than 123,000 books for affected communities. Relief teams have also been dispatched to several districts across East Nusa Tenggara, including Manggarai, Manggarai Barat, Manggarai Timur, Ngada, Nagekeo and Sikka. The earthquake has also taken lives within the school community. One of the victims was Febriani Evika Jas, a fifth-grade student at SDK Ri’i in Manggarai district. The education ministry said it had provided financial assistance and food supplies to her family.

For Indonesia, the challenge now is not only rebuilding damaged infrastructure but preventing a temporary disaster from becoming a long-term educational setback. Emergency tents may look like a modest solution against the scale of the destruction. But for children whose classrooms have disappeared, they represent something more fundamental: a way to keep learning while their communities rebuild.

In disaster zones, education is often treated as something that can wait until the crisis is over. In East Nusa Tenggara, the government is betting that it cannot.