Govt to hire over 360,000 temporary teachers in 2003

Debbie A Lubis, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Ministry of National Education is planning to hire 366,630 temporary teachers in 2003 to overcome teacher shortages in state elementary and high schools throughout the country.

Education minister A. Malik Fadjar said during a hearing with the House of Representatives (DPR) Commission VI on Tuesday that his ministry was seeking a budget allocation of Rp 2.295 trillion (around US$300 million), or Rp 200,000 per teacher for the program.

Members of the Commission welcomed the move but criticized the ministry for what paying what they called "unjust wages".

"It's not fair that they will receive Rp 200,000 per month as this it is much lower than the Jakarta minimum monthly wage for workers. A teacher is not a slave," said legislator Abduh Paddare.

Jakarta's minimum monthly wage stands at over Rp 500,000.

The commission urged the ministry to allocate at least one third of the ministry's proposed budget of Rp 26.56 trillion for the project.

"We cannot expect to get quality education if we treat the teachers like that," Abduh said.

Malik, however, said that he did not want to make any changes to the proposal because the country's financial condition did not allow the government to pay "big salaries" to teachers.

"I don't want to make any promises because they could boomerang on me. I'm afraid our country only has a limited budget," he said.

Meanwhile, the Director General of Primary and Intermediate Education at the Ministry of National Education, Indra Djati Sidi, said on Tuesday that the new, competence-based curriculum would be implemented during the 2004/2005 school year.

"The pilot project has not finished yet and we are still developing contextual teaching and learning, a method that can assist teachers in applying the new curriculum," Indra explained.

He said that his office was helping schools to prepare their staff and technical resources before the new curriculum was implemented nationwide.

"But changes take time and involve a gradual process. So we cannot force some schools if they are not ready to implement the new curriculum in 2004," he said.

The Curriculum Center at the ministry conducted a pilot project introducing the new curriculum in 15 elementary schools and 15 junior high schools last year in Jakarta, Tangerang in Banten province, Bandung in West Java, Yogyakarta, and Sidoarjo in East Java.

Siskandar, chairman of the Curriculum Center, said that the project, which would last two years, would proceed to the second stage of implementation next month, involving senior high schools.

"We are going through the process gradually and there are many things that we have yet to do. Even in 2004, we will have to consider whether each regency is ready or not," he said.

The new curriculum, compared to the previous one, requires teachers to allow students to be more active in the classroom and for the students to be able to use the knowledge they have acquired within a shorter space of time.