When disasters happen, the effects on education systems can be devastating, especially when schools aren’t built to last. The magnitude 7.5 earthquake and tsunami which struck Central Sulawesi in Indonesia in September 2018 is a case in point. Alongside other critical infrastructure, schools in the Indonesian province saw widespread devastation, with over 1,000 schools damaged, affecting over 140,000 students. The worst disaster to hit Indonesia in over a decade, the earthquake and tsunami left 14,000 people dead and approximately 170,000 people displaced from their homes.

Determined to safeguard schools in Central Sulawesi from the next disaster, the Government of Indonesia has since made significant progress in building the resilience of education infrastructure in the province. The World Bank and the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) have been key partners of the government in those efforts.

In total, 75 educational facilities, spanning kindergarten, primary, secondary and higher education, were rehabilitated or reconstructed to be resilient, with support from the World Bank and GFDRR. One of those facilities was Tadulako University in Palu, the largest public university in Central Sulawesi. 88 buildings in the university were rehabilitated or reconstructed.

In order to enable faster and more efficient reconstruction, a technical team adapted Rumah Instan Sederhana Sehat (RISHA), a construction method which uses modular, prefabricated structures, for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of two schools. This method had previously been used in Indonesia’s housing sector. 

Another priority was to ensure that that the rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts were fully inclusive.  Accordingly, gender-sensitive features, such as proper lighting, accessible pathways, and separate restrooms for females and males, were integrated into most of the educational facilities. These features were implemented in collaboration with the Provincial and Local Agency for Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection in Central Sulawesi.

Lessons learned from these efforts are already informing similar initiatives by the Indonesian government elsewhere, including the rehabilitation of madrasahs or Islamic schools in the Cianjur district in Indonesia’s West Java province following an earthquake in November 2022. More specifically, the rehabilitation of madrasahs, which is also being supported by the World Bank, drew on the seismic strengthening measures implemented in Central Sulawesi.

World Bank and GFDRR support for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of educational facilities in Central Sulawesi was provided through the $1.4 billion Indonesia National Slum Upgrading Project and the $150 million Central Sulawesi Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Project. GFDRR technical assistance informed the design and implementation of both projects, including their support in the education sector. Notably, the facility informed the activation of the Contingent Emergency Response Component (CERC) for the Indonesia National Slum Upgrading Project. A World Bank financing instrument that allows for the reallocation of funds from ongoing operations, CERC played a key role in rapidly mobilizing financing for the project in the immediate aftermath of the 2018 earthquake and tsunami.

As part of a comprehensive partnership with Indonesia, both the Bank and GFDRR had been engaged in supporting safer and more resilient schools in the country even prior to the 2018 earthquake and tsunami in Central Sulawesi. For instance, previously, the Global Program for Safer Schools supported a deep dive assessment of the structural vulnerability of Indonesia’s public school system, work which also financed by the Government of Japan.