Ministry urges teacher training institutions to become centres of competency development

The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education (Kemendikdasmen) has urged Teacher Training Institutions (LPTK) to serve as centres for continuous teacher competency development, learning research hubs, and strategic partners for schools.

Deputy Minister of Primary and Secondary Education Fajar Riza Ul Haq stated that the government still faces several challenges in fulfilling the need for educators. He noted that more than 407,000 teachers have met academic qualifications but do not yet hold an educator certificate. Furthermore, around 170,000 other teachers still need to complete their S-1 or D-IV degrees before they can participate in the Teacher Professional Education (PPG) programme. The demand for teachers is projected to exceed 900,000 by 2030 if not anticipated through more integrated planning.

“These issues cannot be resolved merely by adding teacher formations or partially increasing LPTK capacity. Instead, policy synchronisation is needed between teacher education providers, local governments, civil service (ASN) policies, and national education development projections,” he said.

In this context, the government, together with the House of Representatives (DPR RI), is also focusing on the revision of the Draft Law on the National Education System (RUU Sisdiknas), particularly regarding teacher governance and strengthening the role of LPTKs. “Thus, teacher fulfilment will no longer proceed in silos but will become a single, interconnected system,” he added.

He invited all LPTKs, universities, local governments, professional organisations, and the community to strengthen collaboration in preparing quality Indonesian teachers. “For the government, building education is not just about building schools. What is far more important is building teachers. Because the quality of the classroom is ultimately determined by the quality of the person standing in front of the students every day,” he remarked.