Government told to hire more teachers in 2003

Government told to hire more teachers in 2003

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Legislators are urging the government to recruit more new
teachers in 2003 and improve the management of teachers
nationwide by distributing them equally throughout the country.

Anwar Arifin of the Golkar faction, who heads the House of
Representatives' Commission VI overseeing human resources, said
Monday that the country needed some 450,000 teachers to provide
good education for the people.

"With more teachers, education can reach more people in the
country," said Anwar, adding that the government could also
relocate teachers from Java to other parts of the country.

Fellow legislator Tengku Baihaqi Abdul Qadir of the United
Development faction expressed his disgust with the current state
of affairs, urging the government to purge officials who extorted
money from teacher candidates.

Baihaqi also said that the government had to monitor closely
the allocation and disbursement of the education budget.

The two lawmakers were commenting on President Megawati
Soekarnoputri's announcement last Friday that the government
would allocate Rp 13.6 trillion (US$1.5 billion) for education or
4 percent of the 2003 state budget.

The proposed budget, while it was a slight increase, was far
below the 20 percent mandated by the newly amended Constitution.

Article 31 (4) of the amended 1945 Constitution stipulates
that the state shall give priority to education by allocating a
minimum of 20 percent of the total state and regional budgets for
the country's education.

But according to Anwar, there was a consensus among factions
in the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) to start
implementation of the mandate in 2004.

"If the government fails to (reach 20 percent), we will not
approve the 2004 budget," Anwar said.

There are currently 1.75 million teachers nationwide.

Java has an oversupply of teachers as many schools have been
closed down due to a severe lack of students, while other parts
of the country, especially in the eastern part of Indonesia, have
a lack of teachers.

According to Megawati, the government would focus on the
rehabilitation, classification and development of public
elementary schools and traditional Islamic schools as well as
other schools.

The government also plans to give more scholarships and aid
for poor students, she said.

The action would be part of the government's effort to improve
the implementation of the nine-year obligatory school curriculum,
she added.

Indra Djati Sidi, Director General of Primary and Intermediary
Education at the Ministry of National Education, said last month
that the government was planning to hire more temporary teachers
to makeup for the shortage of teachers.

"We will recruit university graduates immediately in a bid to
guarantee the success of the nine-year basic education program in
the villages because the teacher shortage is a real problem. We
cannot wait for a new law to solve it," he said.

Indra said that the ministry could not recruit permanent
teachers because there were many employees who had not obtained
their civil servant status since the last decade.

He said the government would recruit 85 percent of the new
teachers needed in provinces nationwide, while regional
administrations would handle the rest.