Deputy House Speaker highlights uneven teacher distribution across regions

Deputy Speaker of the Indonesian House of Representatives Cucun Ahmad Syamsurijal has highlighted the uneven distribution of teachers in the regions, which has left some areas with a surplus of teachers in certain subjects while others continue to face shortages.

Cucun said the problem shows the need for more integrated planning of teacher requirements involving the central government, regional governments, and universities.

“Regarding recruitment, if there is still a mismatch between the formation needs at the Ministry of State Apparatus Empowerment and Bureaucratic Reform and the needs in the regions, that must be straightened out,” Cucun said in a statement received in Bandung, West Java, on Thursday.

According to him, planning for teaching staff needs must be aligned with the real needs of each region, including taking into account the study programmes available at universities and the absorption of graduates.

“We should not open study programmes or wait for students to enrol without knowing where the uptake and the purpose will be. There must be an education ecosystem,” Cucun said.

He assessed that synchronisation between the formations set by the government and the need for teaching staff in the regions is important so that the recruitment process does not create an uneven distribution of teachers.

According to him, teacher recruitment should be directed based on the real needs of schools and the characteristics of each region so that teaching staff can be placed more appropriately.

“So do not just keep recruiting without matching the desired formations,” he said.

Meanwhile, Rector of the Indonesia University of Education Didi Sukyadi said the issue is in line with one of the university’s recommendations in the discussion of the National Education System Bill in July 2026.

He said the bill encourages teacher needs planning to be carried out in an integrated manner through coordination between the central government, regional governments, and universities.

“This approach is expected to reduce the uneven distribution of teachers while addressing the mismatch between graduates’ fields of study and school needs,” he said.