Fri, 05 May 2000

Educators disappointed with allowance increase

JAKARTA (JP): The decision to increase the functional allowance for teachers by 150 percent failed to elicit praise from educators.

The policy still reflects the government's unfairness toward the profession, teachers and education experts told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

Indonesian Teachers Union (PGRI) chairman Muhammad Surya said the decision violated an earlier agreement.

On April 17, the government -- represented by the Ministry of National Education and the Ministry of Finance -- and PGRI agreed to a 300 percent increase in teachers' functional allowances, he said.

Since this agreement was reached, the allowances were increased by 100 percent, followed by the additional 50 percent raise announced on Wednesday.

"We are seeking clarification of the decision," Muhammad said, adding that he was scheduled to meet with officials from the Ministry of National Education and the Ministry of Finance on Monday.

"We hope (the latest increase) was not a final decision, and we would like to know whether the government will give us another raise next year," he said.

Muhammad said he respected the government's attention reflected in the allowance increase. "We will keep trying to improve teachers' welfare, and in the meantime we will not hold mass rallies."

Teacher protests drew public ire last month when their demonstrations involved closing part of the toll road in front of the House of Representatives.

Meanwhile, education experts Winarno Surachmad and Mochtar Buchori lamented the decades-long insensitivity on the part of the government toward the teaching profession.

"The portrait of our teachers is still in tatters," Winarno said. "None of them can even buy newspapers."

When teachers demand a raise, the government says there is no budget to meet their demands, he said. "But instead, people's representatives who have not performed well in the past get a large pay raise."

With their new allowance increases, legislators will take home approximately Rp 9.7 million a month, while teachers earn about Rp 762,500 to Rp 962,500.

Mochtar Buchori said that since the 1950s, reviews of civil servants' wages had not taken into account the special profession of teaching, which required idealism.

"Teaching is a noble profession, nobility should be honored," Mochtar remarked.

He said the government should gradually restore the financial and social status of teachers, which had been ignored for 50 years.

"In times of war, most privileges are given to the Army. In peace, if we're saying we are fighting illiteracy, we have to think about the teachers," Winarno said.

Winarno added that the low salaries of teachers was not a problem "when everyone was poor after independence". But the increasing gap between those getting richer and those getting only a small raise hurts the poor, including teachers, he said. (dja/08)