City to hire only 122 new teachers<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The city education and teaching office will hire
\nonly 122 new elementary school teachers this academic year even
\nthough it has been estimated that Jakarta currently needs 2,300
\nadditional teachers, an official has said.<\/p>\n
Sulam Ruchiyat of the office said yesterday that the city's
\ninability to recruit more teachers was mainly due to a lack of
\nfunds.<\/p>\n
\"Out of the 122 new positions, 120 will be assigned to be
\nsubject teachers and the remaining two would be for sports and
\nreligious studies,\" Sulam said.<\/p>\n
If the city could hire all 2,300 new teachers it needed, 800
\nwould be for sports and 1,500 would be subject teachers, he said.<\/p>\n
He explained that the number of applicants for elementary
\nteaching positions was dropping substantially. Only 956 people
\nhad submitted applications for teaching positions this year
\ncompared to some 1,500 applicants last year.<\/p>\n
\"I don't understand what is happening here. You would think
\nthat the monetary situation would prompt a lot of people to
\napply. But this year is quite different for previous years. Maybe
\nbecoming an elementary teacher is not thought to be as promising
\nas it used to be,\" Sulam said.<\/p>\n
Currently, there were some 2,000 part-time elementary teachers
\nwho were graduates of Teacher Training and Education Institutes
\n(IKIP), he said.<\/p>\n
\"But none of them seem to be applying to become full-time
\nteachers,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Based on the office's data, there are 27,040 public elementary
\nschool teachers in Jakarta. Ideally, the city's 3,408 elementary
\nschools should employ some 40,000 teachers to teach their pupils.<\/p>\n
Moonlighting<\/p>\n
Due to a salary of only Rp 192,500 (US$29) per month, teachers
\nare usually forced to seek moonlighting jobs to earn more money.<\/p>\n
Also, many are assigned to teach subjects they know little
\nabout due to a lack of trained teachers in some subjects.<\/p>\n
\"Many teachers here are forced to become sports or English
\nteachers despite their limited knowledge of the two subjects. I
\nknow this is wrong ... but what can we do? There's
\nnot enough good sports teachers in the city,\" he said.<\/p>\n
When asked whether the lack of professional sports teachers
\nwas because the government phased out Teacher Training Schools in
\n1989, he refused to comment but admitted that it was probably one
\nof the causes.<\/p>\n
\"I can't say much about that. That was a ruling from higher
\nauthorities. All I know is that Jakarta needs more elementary
\nteachers now,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Afiff Hamka of the city council's commission E on welfare
\naffairs, said that the employment of more teachers in the city
\nwas a must.<\/p>\n
\"Think of the children. Many of the pupils now do not have
\nsufficient sports knowledge because their teachers fail to teach
\nthem properly. Students rarely play sports anymore ... I think
\nthe best way is to recruit more qualified teachers. Not just
\npicking them randomly,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Afiff said the education world would be in jeopardy if the
\nministry failed to allocate proper funding for teachers.<\/p>\n
\"Every teacher has to be placed according to his or her
\nbackground. For instance, you can't assign a mathematics teacher
\nto teach sports,\" he added.<\/p>\n
All of the elementary school teacher applicants this year will
\nundergo a series of tests Monday in the Senayan indoor stadium in
\nCentral Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Subjects tested will include Indonesian, Pancasila, history,
\ngeneral knowledge and psychology. A special screening process
\nwill also be held by the municipality after the tests. (edt)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/city-to-hire-only-122-new-teachers-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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