Teachers strike ends after salary hike<\/p>\n
BEKASI, West Java (JP): Teachers at a private elementary
\nschool here, SD Tunas Jakasampurna, have resumed teaching after
\ntheir demand for a 20 percent salary hike was met by the school
\nfoundation.<\/p>\n
All 60 teachers at the school staged a protest and refused to
\nteach earlier this week to highlight their demand for the rise.<\/p>\n
\"The strike lasted about two hours. The teachers sat in the
\nschool office while waiting for the conclusion of the foundation
\nmeeting,\" a female teacher who asked not to be identified told
\nThe Jakarta Post yesterday.<\/p>\n
The teachers are paid between Rp 80,000 (US$34.3) and Rp
\n190,000 per month depending on their teaching hours.<\/p>\n
The school has 48 classes and 2,300 pupils. Each student pays
\nRp 1.5 million as an entry fee and a monthly fee of Rp 45,000.<\/p>\n
Another source who also requested anonymity told the Post that
\nthe main reason for the strike was the recruitment by the
\nfoundation of higher-paid teachers from the Gandhi Memorial
\nSchool.<\/p>\n
According to the source, the salaries of the new teachers,
\nrecruited on a contractual basis, are 10 times higher than those
\nof the regular teachers.<\/p>\n
The principal, Alberta Sumartini, and the chairman of the
\nTunas Jakasampurna foundation, Teddy Darmaputra, were not
\navailable for comment.<\/p>\n
Regretted<\/p>\n
Meanwhile Minister of Education and Culture Wardiman
\nDjojonegoro said that he regretted the teachers' strike.<\/p>\n
\"Any teachers' strike is costly. They victimize the
\nschoolchildren and the parents,\" Wardiman told the press after a
\nhearing with House Commission IX for education recently.<\/p>\n
He said he had formed a team to investigate the matter.<\/p>\n
Wardiman said that he would also investigate a report that the
\nBekasi office of the Ministry of Education and Culture had
\narbitrarily cut the salaries of teachers at several other schools
\nin the regency. According to the report many teachers in the
\nregency were forced to subscribe to some publications. The
\npayment for the publications was deducted from the teachers'
\nsalaries. (kod)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/teachers-strike-ends-after-salary-hike-1447893297",
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