Expert welcomes plan to upgrade teachers

Expert welcomes plan to upgrade teachers

JAKARTA (JP): An education expert welcomed the government's
plan to upgrade teachers who are not university graduates, but
expressed reservations over the call for them to pay their own
way through the program.

Marsetio Donoseputro, a legislator of the House Commission IX,
which oversees education, told The Jakarta Post that most
teachers will find it difficult to continue their education
without some financial assistance.

"It'll be difficult for the teachers, especially those working
at state-owned junior and senior high schools, to pay for their
education at universities," he said. "Most of them are not well-
off financially."

Director General of Higher Education Bambang Soehendro last
week announced the plan to send senior and junior high school
teachers to universities in an effort to improve their
qualifications. The government, however, doesn't expect the
teachers to wait until there's money for the program. It is
requiring them to continue their studies through the long-
distance Open University or the state-run teachers training
institutes.

Bambang did not specify when the program will commence, only
saying it would be "soon". He also did not comment on the number
of teachers to be included in it.

Marsetio suggested that the government begin with teachers at
state-owned junior and senior high schools. Even this, however,
would constitute a massive operation, as there are currently
305,886 senior high teachers and 375,313 junior high teachers.

Bambang said that only half of the senior high teachers and a
quarter of the junior high teachers are university graduates.

Marsetio said that most private schools had begun upgrading
their own teachers even before the government announced the plan.

Marsetio praised the plan because, he said, it is the quality
of teachers that will influence the whole learning process.

"Many teachers in remote areas are forced to teach subjects
about which they know very little," said Marsetio, who is also a
former rector of the state-owned Airlangga University in
Surabaya, East Java.

He pointed out that teachers with backgrounds in social
sciences are often forced to teach natural sciences because
there's no one else to teach it.

"How can we expect the students to learn well if the teachers
don't know of anything about the subject?" he said.

A shortage of teachers remains a chronic problem in most
areas, especially in the least-developed regions of eastern
Indonesia, as the result of uneven distribution. Experts
participating in a national convention on education last month
admitted that there's actually a glut of teachers. However, few
teachers are willing to serve in remote areas, even as the
problem of unemployment in teacher-saturated urban centers
worsens.

Indonesia currently has about 1.5 million teachers. Every
year, some 17,000 new teaching graduates compete for positions in
public schools.

By the year 2020, the country will require only 1.1 million
elementary school teachers and 1.195 million junior and senior
high school teachers.

The Open University, whose mode of teaching consists of long-
distance sessions through television or mail, has been appointed
as the institute through which the teachers are expected to
continue their studies.

Marsetio has suggested that the university reduce its tuition
fee. Currently, the fee is Rp 15,000 (US$6.3) per semester with
an additional Rp 6,000 per credit point in a subject.

In addition, prospective students are asked to first pay a
registration fee of Rp 10,000, a second-stage registration fee of
Rp 7.500, fees for every repeat test they have to take, and an
additional fee if they are to take a final test. (31)