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)