Govt expects too much from poverty-line teachers: Union
Dewi Santoso, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
The high absence rate of elementary school teachers is understandable, as they are paid far below their monthly cost of living, said the head of an educators union.
Indonesian Teachers Union (PGRI) chairman Mohammad Surya said on Thursday the government lacked appreciation for teachers, who, like other professionals, needed good salaries and a clear status.
"I did a study on teachers' salaries in 1999, and found that a teacher with a spouse and two children should receive a monthly salary of at least Rp 2.5 million (US$271.7)," Surya told The Jakarta Post.
However, with the price of many commodities having risen in the past five years, the minimum salary was no longer valid, he added.
"Considering recent developments, they need between Rp 3 million and Rp 4 million per month," he said.
In a speech before the House of Representatives on Monday, President Megawati Soekarnoputri unveiled an increase in the 2005 education budget, but gave no sign of a salary hike for civil servants, including teachers.
The government did not raise salaries for civil servants this fiscal year, but provided a 13th month salary for them in July to enable them to pay school tuitions and admissions fees, as well as daily needs during the long school holiday.
A recent study by the SMERU Research Institute for the World Development Report 2004 showed that Indonesia ranked third in the average absence rate of elementary school teachers at 19 percent, following Uganda at 39 percent and India at 25 percent.
Covering 147 state and private elementary schools in 10 major cities and small towns, the study revealed that part-time teachers had a higher absence rate of 27.8 percent compare to full-time teachers at 18.2 percent.
According to the study, part-time teachers are paid between Rp 50,000 and Rp 450,000 per month, while full-time teachers receive between Rp 782,000 and Rp 955,000.
Minimum monthly wages for provinces currently range from Rp 400,000 to Rp 700,000, depending on living costs in each province.
Surya said the government's failure to improve teachers' quality of life would keep the absence rate high, and it needed to consider promoting part-time teachers into full-time teachers so as to narrow the income gap.
However, Minister of National Education Abdul Malik Fajar dismissed Surya's suggestion that the higher the salary, the lower the teachers' absence rate.
"Teachers should realize they need to discipline themselves, as they are carrying out a duty to improve the standard of national education, regardless of their salary. Besides, they also receive allowances.
"I urge all school principles to dismiss teachers who are frequently absent," said Malik.
Surya suggested that the government distribute teachers evenly so as to fulfill the demand for teachers across the country.
According to education ministry data, 1,129,475 teachers taught elementary-level education in 2001.
"We need at least 400,000 more teachers," said Surya.
Malik Fajar said the government had recruited about 200,000 teachers this year for elementary, junior and senior high schools.
Surya agreed with SMERU's recommendation that school structure and facilities were contributing factors to the increased absenteeism, saying the poor structure of state schools had caused depression among teachers.
The education ministry's director general of elementary and secondary education Indra Djati Sidi said the government had allocated Rp 650 billion to each regency this year to renovate elementary schools and to build more classrooms at junior high schools.