7,000 part-time teachers demand better conditions

Kasparman, The Jakarta Post, Padang

Some 7,000 temporarily employed teachers in West Sumatra are threatening to go on strike in protest against the provincial administration's alleged discriminatory recruitment policy and its neglect of their conditions of service.

The threat was made at a second demonstration late on Tuesday afternoon by at least 100 temporarily employed teachers at the Padang mayoralty office.

The protest was triggered by the local government's move to provide Rp 180 million from Padang's budget for at least 100 temporary administrative staff to attend diploma programs at state-run Padang University.

The demonstrators, from the Padang-based Association of Indonesian Temporary Teachers (IGHI), reiterated their earlier demand for the cancellation of the state-funded program, which, they said, amounted to unfair treatment of them.

They also claimed the program was only wasting state resources as its participants had no experience or expertise in teaching.

"Attention should first have been paid to our situation because we have been serving as temporarily employed teachers for 10 years to 15 years," Padang's IGHI chairperson Yulfaheri said.

He demanded that the Padang administration consider seriously their situation by officially appointing them civil servants teaching in schools.

He suspected that the diploma program, which excluded temporary teachers, was to prepare the participants before their being appointed as civil servants within the administration.

Another IGHI activist, M. Nahar, said the Rp 180 million in funds should have been used to improve the welfare of temporarily employed teachers in Padang.

He said that amid the prolonged economic crisis, he and fellow teachers were paid an average of Rp 200,000 per month and that the amount was far from enough to cover their family's daily living costs.

Nahar admitted that school headmasters had been intimidated by certain parties to prevent a planned strike by temporarily employed teachers.

"We would not have gone on strike if we had not been ignored. Please pay attention to our demands. We are aware that if we strike, thousands of students will be affected," he said.

Yulfaheri said he would organize a massive demonstration on Monday, should his organization's demands continue to be ignored.

In a response to the protest, Padang administration secretary Masril Payan said that it was impossible for his office to stop the diploma program, which started three weeks ago, as it had been approved by the city's legislative council.

The program was aimed at improving the skills and knowledge of the 100 temporarily employed civil servants, he added.

He flatly denied that the participants would automatically be accepted as civil servants after the training had finished.

"It's impossible, because the recruitment of new civil servants will be announced openly. They (the 100) will have to compete with others for the jobs," Masril argued.