CITIZEN JOURNALISM

Sink Project in Aceh Not Optimal

By Irma Sari

BANDA ACEH, PARTNERSHIP – The sink construction project launched by the Aceh Provincial Education Office is not yet functioning optimally. The sink did not produce water and the faucet was broken. In fact, the public needs hand washing facilities to prevent transmission of Covid-19.

A number of sinks that cannot be used optimally include those in Banda Aceh City and Bireun Regency. The project is sourced from Aceh's special autonomy (otsus) funds for the 2020 fiscal year with a total of IDR 44,000,958,000.00.  The sink program is divided into 390 work packages spread across various schools.

The author's observation is that the sinks at senior high school (SMA) 1 and SMA 3 Banda Aceh, Wednesday (14/12/2021), many of the sinks were damaged and the water was not flowing. In fact, there is a sink that is used as a flower container. The school has not been able to use it. Schools even have to pay their own money to build hand washing stations.

"The sinks that the education department built are at the front and inside of the school, but they can no longer be used. The water doesn't come out, many of the sinks are broken. The faucets are also broken. So, school children use portable sinks that were built by the school," said a teacher at a school in the city of Banda Aceh who did not want to be named.

Similar conditions were found at SMA 1 Bireun district. The sink cannot be used and utilized properly, "In our school the sinks are built haphazardly. Not all sinks can be used properly. Only a few sinks can be used for washing hands," said the high school teacher.

In another location, SMA 1, Peusangan sub-district, Bireun Regency, the sink seemed to be just a decoration, not used for washing hands. "At SMA 1 Peusangan, in 2020 a sink was built for washing hands, but our students don't use it because the children here don't understand about Covid-19. They don't care,  So the hand washing tools are not used," said the teacher at SMA 1 Peusangan.

In fact, the sink is a means of washing hands to implement health protocols in the midst of a pandemic. That way, the transmission of Covid-19 can be prevented or reduced.

In the meeting with the Aceh Education Service, in this case Mr. T. Fariyal was represented. S.Sos Head of the Technical Implementation Unit for the Communication and Information Technology Center (UPTD Tekkomdik) Aceh Education Service. on December 8 2021, he said that "the project to build Westafel hand washing facilities for high school schools in districts/cities has gone through good planning, but the question of the project being made haphazardly and the sink not being able to be used and utilized properly is not my authority to answer because I am not the Budget Holding Authority (KPA) at the education service"

Gerak Aceh, a civil society organization that focuses on anti-corruption issues in Aceh, found that many school sinks built by the Aceh Education Service were unusable because they were not built according to standards. BPK-RI's findings on LHP No: 23.A/LHP/XVIII.BAC/05/2021 dated 3 May 2021 concerning the report on the audit results of the Aceh government's financial statements for the 2020 fiscal year, are also worthy of attention. The sink project by the Aceh Apparatus Work Unit (SKPA) of the Aceh Education Service cannot be separated from changes in government policy regarding the Presidential Decree on the procurement of goods and services. As a result, from a forensic audit, it was found that state financial losses amounted to Rp. 6,000,000.00 per project, then multiplied by 390 work packages, it was found that it was Rp. 2,340,000,000.00  of state money which had to be returned to the state treasury. This loss resulted in the non-functioning of all hand washing stations in a number of schools in Aceh Province