On September 29, 2025 a school building in Indonesia collapsed. Numerous teenage boys were in the building for their afternoon prayers when the incident occurred. Police and rescue teams were called immediately to bring water to the survivors and to search for the multiple missing students that got trapped in the building. By now the search for all students has ended-67 have been confirmed dead. 

 What makes this even more upsetting is that this is the second major building that collapsed in Indonesia in the same month. Authorities are pressuring for better construction safety standards to avoid these tragic occurrences. 

Officials stated a few days after it happened that the collapse had occurred as a result of the building’s foundation pillars giving away during an unauthorized expansion project. This is surprising to us since it is not common in most areas around the world, such as Switzerland. This is due to us travelling in mostly developed countries which have laws to prevent those occurrences from happening. It would be unimaginable for our school to collapse thanks to Swiss construction laws, which state that buildings must comply with modern structural design and have to go through multiple checks to see whether it is safe. This should not be uncommon but something that exists everywhere so everyone can be secure.

Here at ISL, we have way more opportunities than the school in Indonesia. We are lucky to have such a secure environment as most places around the world do not have the same fundings or regulations which ensures a safe structure for the students and staff members. This enables us to have a favorable education as well as fun with our friends without having to fear being buried under a building. This reminds us that we shouldn’t take our privileged circumstances for granted, since the incident in Indonesia isn’t just a distant event but an insight of how different infrastructures and fundings can make a huge difference in the lives of students. As well as that we should be grateful that we have such great opportunities because just in one month five important buildings have collapsed around the world, two of which are schools, basically making them child graveyards. 

As members of an international school we can learn from this by staying aware of global issues or showing solidarity. We can also spread awareness of these issues and try to help by giving our support in the times when people need it. Safety, quality education and a secure environment are rights that every student should have no matter their ethnicity, gender or religion. We should all play our part in making safety a reality for everyone. Scream for world wide equality. Be the difference. We should help in any way possible to make this the reality of our world, instead of something we hope everyone has.