Prabowo Announces Central Government to Take Over Teacher Appointments

President Prabowo Subianto has stated that the central government will take over the process of appointing teachers. Prabowo noted that this policy is intended to create a recruitment system that is more objective, measurable, and quality-oriented.

“But currently, if I am not mistaken, we are discussing returning the right to appoint teachers to the central government,” Prabowo said during the ‘Presiden Prabowo Menjawab’ programme, as reported by the Indonesian Communications and Informatics Ministry (Bakom RI) on Wednesday (16/9).

He emphasised that the national education system must be comprehensively improved, particularly regarding the recruitment process and the enhancement of teacher quality. Prabowo also addressed the delegation of teacher recruitment authority to local governments, which he noted presents its own set of challenges.

He stated that the government must be brave enough to face the realities on the ground. According to him, the teacher appointment process must align with capacity, school needs, and quality standards, rather than being based on personal connections or political interests.

“But in practice, if it is left to regency or provincial governments, can we be certain of the quality of teacher recruitment? We must speak of reality. Is a regent objective, or do they appoint their relatives or campaign team members as teachers? This is our dilemma,” he said.

Prabowo mentioned that the government is also considering measures to provide courses and competency enhancement programmes for educators. He noted that such steps are necessary so that teachers can keep pace with developments in learning methods and educational technology.

In addition to improving recruitment and teacher training, Prabowo revealed that he is designing an accelerated programme by recruiting top university graduates from various disciplines to assist the most disadvantaged schools.

“One step I am considering to address this issue is a crash programme; perhaps I will recruit the best graduates from all faculties to serve as teachers. Let us call them emergency teachers that we deploy to schools,” said Prabowo.

According to Prabowo, another alternative is to involve civil servants (ASN) who are already working to undertake short-term assignments to assist specific schools. These assignments could last for two or three weeks, tailored to the needs and conditions of each region.

“We could also consider recruiting from existing civil servants. We could deploy them for two or three weeks,” he added.