Elementary schools merged to maximize limited funding

Debbie A. Lubis, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The ministry of education has merged thousands of state elementary schools throughout the country as part of measures introduced to address teacher shortages and maximize the use of limited funding.

The ministry's director general for elementary and secondary education Indra Djati Sidi said here on Thursday that his office had merged 4,330 elementary schools throughout the country into 2,145, by combining schools with few students.

"The teachers can teach effectively either by covering for the teacher shortage at other schools or by teaching particular subjects," he said.

Some principals would become ordinary teachers, with fringe benefits, while unused school buildings would be utilized either as junior high schools or demolished and the cleared site used for school activities.

Meanwhile, director of education workers at the ministry Suwondo said on Thursday that the country was in need of some 400,000 teachers to support elementary and secondary education programs.

He also said that his office would recruit next year some 190,714 temporary teachers to be assigned in 30 provinces to teach at elementary, junior and senior high schools.

"We cannot address all the shortages immediately due to limited funding. We have to set a quota for each province and merge some schools," Suwondo said, adding that the recruitment process was the same as for the recruitment of civil servants.

He said that the prospective teachers should be a maximum of 32 years old.

"We predict that they will be promoted to become civil servants in three years time. But we are also prioritizing those that have demonstrated their dedication as temporary teachers over several years," he said.

Suwondo said that each temporary teacher would receive a monthly take-home pay of Rp 400,000.

Indra Djati said that before receiving temporary teachers, a regency or municipality had to establish an education board and school committee.

"It will be more efficient if they have met such requirements because they will start focusing on the quality of education, while the government will only offer assistance to one school rather than three," he said.