NTT schools suffer teacher shortage

KUPANG, East Nusa Tenggara: A recent study by the East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) office of the Ministry of National Education discovered that 400 out of 4,060 elementary schools in NTT had currently only between one and four teachers.

The lack of educators has forced teachers to double as school principals as well as school security guards, leading to a poor overall standard of basic education in the province, the director of the Kindergarten and Elementary School Development Division of the local education office, Jusuf B. Malo, said on Tuesday.

"Most of the elementary schools that suffer from a lack of teachers are located in Alor, Sikka, Kupang, East Flores, Manggarai and a number of other regencies," he said. -- JP