Better pay means better education<\/p>\n
A. Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Syamsul Hadi, a lecturer at a state university in Surabaya,
\nhas to moonlight at two private universities in Malang and
\nSidoarjo, both in East Java, to earn additional income and
\nprovide for his family.<\/p>\n
His income covers the installments for a home and a car loan
\nas well as the cost of education for his three children while his
\nwife's salary as a state bank employee is spent on daily needs.<\/p>\n
"It's not enough to depend only on the wage of a civil
\nservant. Almost all of my colleagues do the same thing," the 46-
\nyear-old said.<\/p>\n
The lecturer in mechanical engineering admitted that many
\nothers were unable to properly focus on their students because
\nthey had too many.<\/p>\n
"If it's just teaching at one or two universities like me,
\nit's ok. Ha.., ha... But many of my friends teach at more than
\nfive different universities," Hadi said.<\/p>\n
While many lecturers with state universities moonlight to get
\nmore income, others lecturers with private universities teach
\nextra subjects to increase salary. Private universities,
\nparticularly the elite ones, deliberately allow their lecturers
\nto teach many subjects to boost their income in compensation of
\nthe ruling that bans them from teaching in other universities.<\/p>\n
Surya Tjandra, a lecturer from Atma Jaya University's Law
\nSchool in Jakarta said the lecturers could not improve their
\nknowledge because they were busy with their teaching schedule.<\/p>\n
"There is no time to do research. However, research is
\nimportant for a lecturer to improve her or his quality. Research
\nis less appreciated here than teaching," Surya, who was a former
\ndirector of the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute, said.<\/p>\n
The monthly salary for a lecturer at universities in big
\ncities is, on average, between Rp 1.5 million to Rp 3 million
\nwhile for small universities, mostly in small towns, the monthly
\nsalary could be a mere Rp 500,000.<\/p>\n
Besides a lack of facilities, many believe that poor salaries
\nfor lecturers is one of many reasons for the bad quality of
\neducation at universities.<\/p>\n
Education expert Prof. Soegeng Santoso of the Jakarta State
\nUniversity (UNJ) said a proper salary and social welfare
\nguarantees for lecturers was needed in order to improve the
\nquality of teaching.<\/p>\n
"Awards, career development, legal protection and intellectual
\nproperty rights, as well as greater access to educational
\nfacilities are very important for the advancement of education at
\na university," Soegeng explained in a seminar at UNJ recently.<\/p>\n
Referring to lecturers' habit of teaching at various
\nuniversities, he joked that many lecturers "now know the route to
\nmany universities, but have lost the route to advancing their
\nknowledge."<\/p>\n
Chairman of the Indonesian Independent Teacher Association
\nFederation, Suparman, explained that the bill on teachers and
\nlecturers, which is being deliberated at the House of
\nRepresentatives, did not deal very much with the issue of an
\nincrease in salaries, benefits or facilities.<\/p>\n
"The bill says that teachers and lecturers 'have the right to
\nproper salary'. But it does not say in detail how much
\nconstitutes 'proper'. It's still unclear," Suparman, who is also
\nan activist with the Education Coalition, stated.<\/p>\n
Under the Constitution, the government is required to allocate
\n20 percent of the state budget for education. However, it has
\nthus far failed to meet that requirement due to the limited
\nbudget and the lack of political will.<\/p>\n
Many universities, especially state universities, which have
\nbecome state-owned legal entities (BHMN), are currently
\nincreasing their tuition fees in an effort to cover their
\noperational costs, and presumable to improve the lecturer's
\nsalaries and benefits.<\/p>\n
Many people, particularly parents, have protested about the
\nhike in education costs, saying that state-run universities are
\nno longer different -- in cost -- from private ones.<\/p>\n
In addition to passing a test, a student, for example,
\nstudents may be asked to pay approximately Rp 40 million to be
\naccepted as a student of a "less than popular" school. Some of
\nthe favored schools, such as the school of medicine, require new
\nstudents to pay at least Rp 150 million, just for the "enrollment
\nfee".<\/p>\n
Inexpensive education or, even, free education is apparently
\njust a slogan for politicians or presidential candidates during
\ncampaigns. After elections, most say that all people, not just
\nthe government, should be responsible for the cost of education.<\/p>\n
In order to move toward quality education, an increase in
\nlecturer's salaries is clearly needed, yet it still seems far
\naway.<\/p>",
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