The Urgency for Indonesia: Building a Future with Sustainable Schools, Clean Energy, and Safe Water

Jakarta, April 2025 – Indonesia stands at a critical crossroads. As the world races toward sustainability, millions of Indonesian children still study in crumbling classrooms, families struggle for clean water, and villages remain trapped in energy poverty. The time to act is now—delaying investment in sustainable school infrastructure, clean energy, and safe water will deepen inequality, stunt economic growth, and leave future generations vulnerable to climate disasters.

 

1.       Why Sustainable Schools Must Be a National Priority

• A Child’s Right to Safety: Over 40,000 schools need urgent repairs—some with roofs caving in during monsoons. How can students focus when their classrooms are unsafe?
• Climate-Proofing Education: With floods and landslides destroying 100+ schools yearly (BNPB), Indonesia must adopt disaster-resilient designs—like earthquake-resistant buildings in Lombok or elevated schools in flood-prone areas.
• Digital Divide: No electricity means no internet, no computers, no future. Solar-powered schools show the way—why isn’t this scaled nationwide?

2.       Clean Energy: Powering Villages, Powering Progress

• ·Diesel Dependency = Poverty Trap: Remote islands like Alor pay 5x more for erratic diesel power than Jakarta pays for grid electricity. Solar microgrids could slash costs—yet only 5% of potential projects exist (IESR).

3.       Clean Water: A Crisis Hiding in Plain Sight

• The Contamination Crisis: 40% of groundwater is polluted with feces or industrial waste (Ministry of Health). Families in Flores drink from rivers shared with livestock—leading to chronic child stunting.
• Women’s Burden: Girls miss school to walk hours daily for water. Install village water pumps, and watch enrollment soar.

 

The Cost of Waiting

Every year of delay means:

• 2 million more students learn in rotting classrooms.
• 500+ villages remain off-grid, reliant on kerosene.
• 30,000 children hospitalized from dirty water.

 

This Isn’t Just Infrastructure—It’s Justice

Indonesia can’t become a top 5 economy by 2045 if half its population starts life in darkness, thirst, and broken schools. The solutions exist. Now is the time to act, before the next generation pays the price.