Parents see tragedy, not fault, in Indonesia school collapse

Sidoarjo, Indonesia – Sixteen-year-old Muhammad Royhan Firdaus had just finished praying on the first floor of the Al-Khoziny Islamic Boarding School^[1] in the East Javan city of Sidoarjo on Monday when something struck him on the head.

When he looked up, he saw pieces of the ceiling falling upon him and the other boys, all aged 12 to 18.

“I thought it was an earthquake,” he said. “We all started to run.”

But it wasn’t an earthquake.

For several weeks, construction work had been taking place at the school, where builders were pouring concrete on two upper floors. The weight of the concrete caused the building to collapse in layers that Indonesian officials described as resembling a “pancake”.

Muhammad fell several times as he fled and was hit by debris, including large chunks of crumbling cement. Fuelled by adrenaline, he said he felt “nothing at the time” but once he was outside and had collapsed on the ground, he realised his leg was broken. He had also fractured his shoulder so severely that doctors at Siti Fajar Hospital in Sidoarjo had to insert a metal pin to hold it together.

While more than 100 students managed to flee the building, as of Sunday, the number confirmed killed had risen to 40.

Rescue teams are still trying to recover bodies, with about 27 more students thought to be under the rubble. On Thursday, it was announced that thermal drones had found “no further signs of life”.

‘A tragic accident’

In the aftermath of the deadly incident^[2], questions have been raised about the safety of the structure and why construction work was going on while students were inside.

But neither Muhammad nor his mother, Yuni, had any concerns about him returning to the school, where he had studied since he was 12.

“I am not scared to go back to the school,” Muhammad said as his mother expressed hope that he could continue his studies there once it has been rebuilt.

“We consider this a tragic accident,” Yuni added, explaining that she had no desire to blame school authorities.

All but one of the dozen parents Al Jazeera spoke to said they want their child to return to the school.

Syamsul Arifin, who teaches the sociology of religion at Muhammadiyah University in the nearby city of Malang, explained that Islamic boarding schools like Al-Khoziny play an important role in conservative religious communities, and it is against this backdrop that the reluctance to attribute blame must be understood.

“While parents may be understandably shocked or saddened by the incident, they are unlikely to want to blame the owners or leaders of the school where there is essentially a patron and client relationship,” he said.

These schools offer “a sacred canopy for students that protects and comforts them, which is why their parents submit to the leaders [of the schools] completely,” Arifin added.

‘Religious authority’

Indonesia has more than 30,000 Islamic boarding schools, known as pesantren, where students live in dormitories and study under religious scholars called kyai, or ustadz.

Pesantren focus on religious education, although many, like Al-Khoziny, also teach secular subjects.

In East Java province alone, there are almost 7,000 pesantren.

“Kyai and ustadz are incredibly well respected, particularly in [conservative areas like] East Java because they are considered people of great knowledge and wisdom,” Arifin explained.

They also play a central role in community life, with others regularly consulting them for spiritual guidance, he added.

“They are considered closer to God because of how religious they are, which is why people have such extraordinary respect for them.

“So when something like this happens that raises questions about a potential lack of safety, parents revert to theology and a very traditional way of thinking about religious authority.”

Al-Khoziny was established in 1927, and several of the “founding fathers” of Nahdlatul Ulama, the largest Muslim organisation in the world, taught or studied there, Arifin said. This helped to cement its position “as a centre of religious knowledge and spirituality”.

‘Hoping for a miracle’

Muhammad Ali studied at Al-Khoziny just as his father had before him. That was why he chose to send his own son, 14-year-old Muhammad Fajri Ali, to the school.

The boy was in the school when it collapsed and has not yet been found. Ali has been camping at the site since he heard about the collapse^[3] on social media on Monday.

“I am hoping for a miracle,” he said.

Ali explained that senior members of the school’s leadership had met with the parents and apologised.

“Before we gathered to see them, we [the parents of the missing students] held a meeting and decided as a group that we would not blame the school or anyone else for what happened,” he said.

“I shook hands with [the school leadership] and they hugged me,” Ali said, adding, “It was the will of God.”

Mohammad Abduh, a lecturer in civil engineering at Muhammadiyah University, has analysed images of the destroyed building and believes it is likely that the construction work on the school’s upper floors caused the collapse.

“This immediately caused a weakness in the structure, particularly when pouring things like cement, which causes vibration and takes time to dry,” he explained, adding that it was also possible that the pillars used to support the structure were not big enough to hold up the upper floors.

“Often in Indonesia, we see a phenomenon of ‘living structures’ where floors or rooms are added to existing buildings over time. This can become a problem if it was not the plan from the outset,” he said.

“In this case, it may have been that they wanted to add bedrooms or classrooms, but without thinking of the added weight of the floors.”

The school was reportedly building a prayer room and ablutions area on the upper floors.

“Whatever the case, when building works are ongoing, no one should be doing any other activities inside,” Abduh explained.