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A staff from the Religious Affairs Ministry's trauma healing team interacting with Islamic school teachers affected by Mount Semeru eruption. (ANTARA/HO-Religious Affairs Ministry) - 

The Religious Affairs Ministry has provided a trauma healing service for Islamic school teachers affected by the recent Mount Semeru eruption in Lumajang, East Java, to boost their spirits amid the disaster recovery.

"We must keep our spirits high, and we should see to it that our pupils continue studying despite limitations that we currently faced," the ministry's director for Islamic School Teachers and Education Personnel, Muhammad Zain, noted in a statement on Thursday.

The director highlighted the importance of the teachers' presence for pupils in schools and their role to inspire them.

Zain also encouraged teachers to boost the spirits of their pupils to continue studies after enduring the ordeal of the eruption.

Meanwhile, the ministry's trauma healing team head, Mustofa Fahmi, affirmed that the trauma healing service was provided to teachers from Monday, Dec 27, 2021, to Wednesday, Dec 29, 2021.

The team head expressed hope that the trauma healing team, comprising academics, fellow teachers, and ministry staff, would boost the spirit of teachers affected by the Mount Semeru eruption.

"The trauma healing program is aimed at boosting the teachers' spirits and teaching competency through applying a psychological approach," he affirmed.

Earlier, Surabaya's Airlangga University had also dispatched a team to provide trauma healing programmes for refugees affected by the eruption and the pyroclastic flows that destroyed several villages.

"The team comprised nine volunteers from the university's students organisations," Faculty of Medicine Dean Budi Santoso noted.

Santoso noted that after passing the three-week critical phase of the disaster, most disaster handling measures were nearly conclusion, and health care services had returned to normal.

"Our remaining duty is to help residents recover from their psychological trauma, and our trauma healing programme will boost the residents' spirits," the faculty stated//ANT