DPD RI Criticises Education Problems in Manokwari, from PIP to Teachers

Manokwari (ANTARA) — Chairman of DPD RI Committee III Filep Wamafma has catalogued various education problems in Manokwari Regency, West Papua, through meetings with school heads from primary to senior secondary and vocational levels.

At a meeting held at the STIH Manokwari hall on Monday, he revealed a number of issues ranging from limited quotas for the Indonesia Pintar Programme (PIP), mismatches in education assistance data, to a shortage of permanent teachers.

“Today’s meeting with school heads aims to map out the real obstacles on the ground,” he said.

According to him, PIP distribution has been unable to reach all students from disadvantaged families in the area, due to limited quotas and discrepancies between regional and central government data.

Education assistance programmes are very important, he continued, but their implementation needs to be strengthened through data synchronisation so that disbursement is properly targeted, particularly in areas classified as 3T (Disadvantaged, Frontier, and Outermost).

Besides the issue of education assistance, he said, school heads also raised concerns about dependence on honorary teachers due to the minimal number of teaching staff with Civil Service (ASN) status.

The limited number of ASN teachers poses a serious risk to the continuity of the teaching and learning process if not matched with adequate school operational funding support.

“The free education policy must be accompanied by sufficient financing schemes so that schools can pay honorary teachers or non-ASN educators,” Filep said.

He also highlighted the teacher certification process, which is considered to still burden educators with complex administration, potentially reducing their focus on improving the quality of learning.

“Coordination between provincial and regency governments must be further strengthened so that problems can be detected and good solutions found,” Filep said.

All findings and input from school heads, he said, will be formulated into official DPD RI recommendations to be submitted to relevant ministries as material for improving national education policy.

“Especially for 3T areas in West Papua and the Land of Papua in general,” Filep said.