Teachers to go back to campus<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Some 500 elementary school teachers of state schools will have
\nthe chance to go back to university as the city administration
\nand the Ministry of National Education are launching a program to
\nsend them to the University of Indonesia (UI) to enable them to
\nearn a degree.<\/p>\n
The Jakarta education and training office head, Ahyat M. Awe,
\nsaid that only some 4,000 out of a total of 24,620 elementary
\nschool teachers in the city were university graduates. The rest
\nonly have a teaching diploma.<\/p>\n
\"In the Thousands Island regency, there is only one elementary
\nschool teacher out of 129 teachers who has graduated from
\nuniversity,\" he said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The fact that only 16.25 percent of elementary school teachers
\nare university graduates has been a concern for the
\nadministration.<\/p>\n
\"We are worried about the quality of our children's level of
\neducation five years from now considering that their teachers are
\nnot even university graduates,\" he said, as quoted by
\nberitajakarta.com.<\/p>\n
The program is a pilot project and will be fully financed by
\nthe ministry.<\/p>\n
Ahyat said that the selection of teachers would take place in
\nDecember and those who passed would start their studies at UI
\nnext March.<\/p>\n
The 500 teachers will study for around 18 months, depending on
\ntheir major.<\/p>\n
\"Many teachers have shown great interest to join the selection
\nprocess. The selection itself will also include officials from
\nthe city elementary education agency and the city personnel
\noffice,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the City Council called on the administration to
\nimprove teachers' welfare by increasing their monthly salary from
\naround Rp 1 million (US$117.65) to around Rp 2.5 million.<\/p>\n
\"Councillors will discuss the matter with the administration
\nto find the budget allocation. Actually, there are many city
\nassets, which are currently managed by the central government,
\nthat have yet to be returned to the city including the toll roads
\nand seaport,\" said Audi Tambunan, secretary of the Council's
\nCommission E overseeing social welfare.<\/p>\n
Audi said that the raise would be included in the 2004 city
\nbudget.<\/p>\n
Besides receiving a monthly salary, starting January teachers
\nalso receive an additional allowance of Rp 600,000.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/teachers-to-go-back-to-campus-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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