9,700 teachers go unpaid in W. Sumatra

PADANG, West Sumatra: Around 9,700 temporary teachers in West Sumatra province are complaining that they have not received their Rp 400,000 monthly salaries since they were appointed three months ago.

Most of them teach in state schools in remote areas across the province.

"Not only have we not received our pay, but also the decrees confirming our contracts," said Susilawati, one of the teachers in Agam regency.

She said she started teaching in a junior high school in the regency in July, but her future remained unclear.

To support her two children, she said she had to earn income on the side by cultivating a plot of land near her home.

West Sumatra education office director Satni Eka Putra admitted that the 9,700 teachers had not been paid, saying that administrative discrepancies were the cause of the delay. --JP