Batam in need of 400 teachers

Batam in need of 400 teachers

BATAM, Riau: The industrial estate island Batam, where a rapidly developing economy has been attracting thousands of migrants, is need of at least 400 more teachers, despite the recent addition of 200 teachers, an official said on Tuesday.

"The addition of the 200 full-time and temporary teachers in Batam is not enough, especially in the surrounding islands," said head of Batam's education office Maaz Ismail.

Batam has some 70,390 elementary to high school students at private and state-owned schools and 3,460 teachers.

Maaz said the shortage is acute at schools on the smaller islands located around Batam.

Many teachers live on Batam's main island and are reluctant to move or work on other islands, which generally lacked the public facilities and infrastructure, according to Maaz.

He added that some of the other teachers who used to live on the islands decided to moved to Batam, because their spouses had found a better job on the main island.

"We can't reject their requests to move, and we normally replace the teacher that has left the island with a new one," he said.

Batam is one of the fastest growing economic areas in Indonesia due in large part to its ability to attract investment. Much of that comes from neighboring Singapore. Batam's population however is also growing fast, as migrants from all over Indonesia flock to the island with their families in search of work. -- Antara