Teachers' uneven distribution cripples system<\/p>\n
By Santi W.E. Soekanto<\/p>\n
UJUNGPANDANG, South Sulawesi (JP): The uneven distribution of
\nteachers in the country, one cause of poor education in the
\nremote areas, emerged as the central issue on the first day of
\nthe third national conference on education.<\/p>\n
Minister of Education and Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro, who
\nopened the event, said yesterday that one of the biggest problems
\nin Indonesia is the glut of teachers. However, few teachers are
\nwilling to serve in remote areas, even as the problem of
\nunemployment in teacher-satiated urban centers gets worse.<\/p>\n
Indonesia currently has around 1.5 million teachers. Every
\nyear, some 17,000 new teaching graduates fight for positions in
\npublic schools, Wardiman said.<\/p>\n
By the year 2020 the country will need only 1.1 million
\nelementary school teachers and 1.195 million junior and senior
\nhigh school teachers, Wardiman said.<\/p>\n
The problem of uneven distribution is caused not only by
\noverproduction, but also by the fact that the government can only
\npay a limited number of teachers, Wardiman pointed out.<\/p>\n
\"There are schools which need more teachers, but we cannot
\nafford to pay them,\" he told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
\"We also have to think about how we should maintain the
\nteachers already posted. How to make them like teaching by, say,
\nimproving their salaries,\" he said.<\/p>\n
According to a 1992 United Nations Development Program figure,
\nIndonesia spends only 4.5 percent of its state-budget on
\neducation, one of the lowest levels in Asia. The government,
\nhowever, says that the total funds spent in 1992\/93 were US$1.494
\nmillion, or 13.1 percent of the budget, with only the
\ntransportation, mining and energy sectors attracting more
\nfunding.<\/p>\n
Anah Suhaenah, one of the convention's organizers, agreed that
\nthe problem of overproduction was a chronic one. \"There are
\nplaces which have an oversupply of teachers, while other regions
\nneed a lot more,\" she told the Post.<\/p>\n
The rector of Jakarta's Teacher Training College said many
\nfemale teachers quit when they get married or when they're posted
\nto a remote area.<\/p>\n
\"The government should intervene by providing greater
\nincentives for teachers in remote places,\" she said.<\/p>\n
At present, teachers in isolated places such as Irian Jaya or
\nKalimantan receive salaries and subsidies which are twice as high
\nas their colleagues' in the urban areas of Java. They receive
\ntheir wages through state-owned Bank Rakyat Indonesia.<\/p>\n
\"But in places where there are no branches of the bank,
\nteachers often have to pay their own way to go to the cities and
\nfetch their salaries,\" she said. \"You can imagine why teachers
\ndon't see teaching positions in remote places as attractive.\"<\/p>\n
Suryanto Suryokusumo, representing the office of the State
\nMinistry for Administrative Reforms, said only 100 of the 1,000
\nteachers recently posted in Irian Jaya have stayed on.<\/p>\n
\"Most of the teachers went back home to Java,\" he said. \"Who
\ncould really stay and survive there, if even soldiers have a hard
\ntime living there?\"<\/p>\n
One of the Irian Jaya regencies which frequently complains
\nabout teachers abandoning their posts is Paniai. Hundreds of
\nteachers over the past several years have left their schools
\nbecause they could not stand the isolation. Madura Island in East
\nJava is experiencing the same problem.<\/p>\n
Suryanto said the distribution problem is caused by poor
\nmanagement and a lack of manpower planning on the part of
\ngovernment agencies. Too many people and government agencies are
\nconsidered responsible for education, so nobody ends up being
\nreally responsible, he said.<\/p>\n
\"Take elementary schools. They are the responsibility of the
\neducation ministry, but elementary schools in the resettlement
\nareas become the responsibility of the transmigration ministry as
\nwell,\" Suryanto said.<\/p>\n
Suryanto's opinion has often been voiced by educators and
\nother experts. There has been confusion, for instance, as to the
\nstatus of Islamic schools, which are under the jurisdiction of
\nboth the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Religious
\nAffairs.<\/p>\n
Wardiman also dismissed reports that his office had promised
\nto increase teaching wages before the 1997 general elections.<\/p>\n
\"There's no such plan,\" he told the Post. \"The ministry every
\nyear struggles to have their wages increased, but it's other
\nagencies which decide.\"<\/p>\n
\"Besides, the wages policy is part of the state budget that
\nstarts every April. There's no connection with the general
\nelections.\"<\/p>",
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