NGOs skeptical on new bill to improve teachers' welfare

NGOs skeptical on new bill to improve teachers' welfare

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Ministry of Education and the Indonesian Teachers Union
(PGRI) have drafted a bill aimed at improving teachers' welfare
across the country.

The bill offers protection for teachers by imposing a number
of sanctions for violations of teachers' rights, including those
related to their salary, holidays, promotion and discriminatory
policies.

Article 14 states that teachers have the right to salaries and
other incentives, considering that in many cases teachers --
mostly those in remote areas -- do not receive their salaries
regularly each month.

Article 15 says that private school teachers should earn as
much as state school teachers.

Currently, many teachers at small private schools receive a
very low salary. Worse still, they rarely receive their salary on
time.

The bill also stipulates protection for teachers who are
assigned to conflict areas.

Violations of the law mostly carry administrative sanctions or
fines ranging from Rp 1 million (US$117) to Rp 500 million.

Some education experts expressed skepticism about whether the
bill would live up to teachers' expectations once it takes
effect.

A spokesman of the Center for Betterment of Education (CBE),
Dharmaningtyas, told The Jakarta Post the bill was a mere
justification of the current condition, in which teachers have no
autonomy or authority.

"The truth is that this new bill does not deliver anything new
in improving teachers' conditions. The only new thing is that
private teachers will earn as much as state teachers," said
Dharmaningtyas.

Separately, a spokesperson for National Education Watch (NEW),
Sarasdewi, said the protection and benefits for teachers was just
a formality, as found in every law in the country.

"Most teachers agree that this will be a good law with all the
benefits for teachers. However, we are skeptical about its
implementation.

"There are so many laws with good goals but the government has
failed to implement them," said Sarasdewi.

She further said that some articles in the bill were
ambiguous.

Citing an example, the bill stipulates the formation of the
Teacher Disciplinary Council (DKG), but she said the bill did not
provide any additional explanation about the council.

Sarasdevi also said that the government discriminated between
teachers and lecturers because the bill failed to mention
anything about lecturers.

"Many lecturers in small private universities do not earn
enough money to live on as is the situation for elementary school
teachers," said Sarasdevi.

The bill also mentions of the establishment of a professional
organization to manage teachers, which is considered
controversial as it is given the authority to recommend the
dismissal and movement of teachers.

Sarasdewi criticized the bill for failing to clearly refer to
a certain organization, as there are many teacher associations.

Dharmaningtyas said he was sure the organization in question
was PGRI, as no other professional organization was recognized by
the government.

"The transfer or dismissal of a teacher should be done
according to the school's needs or the teacher's own needs, not
the will of the PGRI.

"This system will provide reasons for the PGRI to move or
dismiss a teacher simply because he or she is unwanted,"
Dharmaningtyas said.