Bogor (The Jakarta Post: (28/07/07) Dozens of scholarships recipients nationwide have decided to give something back to schools, gathering and donating their time, money and skills to renovate a school in Bogor regency last week. Sampoerna Foundation scholarship recipients, 350 in total from high school to post-graduate level, added more classrooms to state elementary school SD Pasir Bagade in Sukaraja subdistrict.

Before the renovations, the 160 first to sixth grade students in the school had to study in three classrooms with no furniture or windows. Headmaster Muhamad Yamin said partitions had previously been put up to create separate "classrooms" for students. "The school had never undergone any big renovations since it was established in 1986," he said. Muhamad said he was pleased with the help from the Sampoerna Foundation to build two classrooms and two toilets. The school had also earlier received aid from Bank Indonesia to build one classroom and one toilet. "The ideal was that the school would have at least six classrooms and an office for the teachers. And now we're going to have them all."

The school's renovation was part of the foundation's annual scholars club gathering.
The Sampoerna Foundation is a non-profit organization focusing on education. Apart from scholarships, the foundation runs other programs such as teacher training. The foundation is also actively involved in renovating schools that have been hit by natural disasters.

According to 2004 data from the Education Ministry, 45 percent of the 270,000 school buildings in Indonesia were in poor condition, with West Java ranking the worst of all the provinces. Bogor, about one hour's drive south of Jakarta, is part of West Java. Eddy Henry, the foundation's program and alumni relations director, said the gathering was also held to bring scholarship recipients closer together. "We also want them to share things that they have received with those who are in need," Eddy said. He said the renovation also involved giving the scholarship students a sense of ownership of the school, which would spur them to return and keep it in good condition.

Saut Saragih, who receives a scholarship for the London Business School, said poor school conditions were widely known about. "It's not about people being blindfolded about schools, I think it's more about them not having the time to help them out." Although the foundation used to share the same management as the large cigarette company of the same name, it became a separate entity after the Sampoerna cigarette brand was sold to U.S.-based tobacco company Philip Morris.