Experts Remind State Obliged to Guarantee Welfare of Honorary Teachers in Private Schools
JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Education observers emphasise that the government cannot wash its hands of the fate and welfare of honorary teachers, including those teaching in private foundation-owned schools or madrasahs.
National Coordinator of the Indonesian Education Monitoring Network (JPPI), Ubaid Matraji, states that the state still has a full obligation to guarantee decent wages for these teachers.
According to Ubaid, educational services fundamentally stem from fulfilling children’s basic rights.
Therefore, the availability of schools and educators is the government’s responsibility, both at central and regional levels.
“From my perspective, educational services arise from children’s right to education. As long as there are children, the government has an obligation to provide educational services,” Ubaid said when contacted by Kompas.com on Thursday (23/4/2026).
In the Jakarta context, Ubaid highlights the disparity between the number of school-age children and available school capacity.
He believes the government has not yet been able to provide adequate public education facilities in line with the mandate of the 1945 Constitution.
“In reality, the seats provided by the Jakarta government in public schools, both public madrasahs and public schools, are not even half available. They are still very lacking,” Ubaid explained.
Ubaid views private schools as complements and even saviours in filling the gaps in state-owned education facilities.
“So, the existence of private schools adds to the shortage of public schools. If there were no private schools, many Jakarta children would not be able to go to school,” he stated.
Therefore, he emphasises that the government remains obliged to guarantee the welfare of teachers, including those teaching in private schools.
Furthermore, Ubaid explains that the private sector’s role in education should be seen as a form of partnership between the government and private entities (public-private partnership).