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.