Giving teachers and lecturers their dues

Giving teachers and lecturers their dues

Alpha Amirrachman, Jakarta

Nov. 25 will be a moment of truth for the education sector in
Indonesia. It is the day the government and the House of
Representatives (DPR) have agreed to officially endorse the
teachers and lecturers bill and to recognize "Teachers and
Lecturers National Day" after a six year-delay.

The bill itself, however, remains controversial.

The largest bone of contention with educationalists surrounds
the welfare of teachers and lecturers. Article 13 states that
teachers and lecturers are entitled to "decent" salaries and
conditions. It is hoped that their salaries would be adjusted to
at least three times higher than non-teacher civil servants in
the same classification (golongan) who are already entitled to
other professional incentives.

It remains to be seen whether the government will be able to
meet the requirements in the new bill. The suspicion that the
bill is merely a ploy to divert public attention away from the
fuel price hikes could turn out to be justifiable.

The bill also mainly addresses teachers and lecturers who work
for state institutions, not private ones. Many educationalists
argue that the bill is therefore discriminatory, as most
education in this country is run by the private sector. However,
the government is unlikely to be able to provide incentives for
the private sector due to financial constraints.

It is also not realistic to expect the government to set
explicit rules regarding private teacher salaries as each private
institution has different standards and financial capacities. On
the issue of legal protection for private teachers and lecturers,
the new law on foundations (yayasan) is considered adequately
progressive by most observers; the problem, as in most cases in
our country, lies in its implementation.

The bill should instead create a competitive atmosphere
between private and government institutions in education quality
and teacher welfare.

In this era of decentralization, it would be moving against
the clock if every segment of society remains dependent on the
central government. Decentralization should give private
educational institutions the authority to run their own affairs,
particularly for community-based education.

As importantly, the bill rules that any teacher association
should conform to existing regulations, meaning it should be in
the form of a legal entity with the usual administrative
requirements, such as a minimum number of members and
representatives in selected cities throughout the country.

Although it is understandable that one teacher association may
not always be a true representative of teachers, this seems to be
a restriction in disguise, stopping teachers from freely
articulating their political aspirations.

During my research fieldwork, no matter "chaotic" the
political atmosphere was due to the burgeoning of teacher
associations, a genuine teacher association would always survive
and a bogus one, which was riddled with short-term political
interests and often needlessly disturbed the running of the local
government, would die due to the lack of support.

Teacher education is also being poorly addressed. While the
minimum academic qualifications of undergraduate and diploma four
(D-4) might be acceptable, a minimum number of 36 credits to
achieve "competence" is grossly inadequate. This is partly
because of the conversion of Teaching Training Institutions
(IKIP) into universities. The change is based on wrong-headed
perceptions -- or perhaps even a sense of inferiority; that IKIP
graduates are somehow less qualified than university graduates.

Let's hope the bill is not merely an attempt to whitewash over
people's fears about education in this increasingly difficult
time. Despite its flaws, there is still a hope the bill is a step
forward, if not a major leap.

The writer is a lecturer at the Faculty of Education, Sultan
Ageng Tirtayasa State University in Banten and a researcher at
the Public Sphere Institute.