Preserving the Dignity of Teachers Amid the ASN Reform Wave

Discussions regarding the prohibition of non-ASN teachers from teaching by the threshold of 2027 have triggered waves of anxiety at the grassroots level of our education system. Rumours circulating on social media depict a supposed “mass cleansing” of those who have long been the backbone in classrooms. If we dissect the anatomy of the policy clearly and carefully, the narrative of prohibition is actually misinformation that fails to capture the essence of the bureaucratic transformation in education that the government is striving for. The government, through the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education (Kemendikdasmen), is not building barriers to teachers’ dedication. On the contrary, the steps taken are efforts to build bridges of legality that have long been fragile. We must view this issue through a broader lens: not as a threat of termination, but as an endeavour to humanise teachers through certainty of legal status. National data projects that by 2027, Indonesia will still face a very wide gap in teacher formations, reaching more than 500,000 people. This figure is not merely a statistic on paper, but a representation of thousands of classrooms threatened with emptiness without the presence of educators. In this context, non-ASN teachers are not merely additional personnel or reserves. They are the backbone that keeps the pulse of schooling beating, especially in areas difficult to reach by central bureaucracy. Removing them without equivalent and immediate substitution would only systematically cripple the national education system. Therefore, the narrative of prohibiting non-ASN teachers from teaching contradicts the objective needs of the state in the field. The government’s issuance of Circular Letter (SE) from Mendikdasmen Number 7 of 2026 is a crucial mitigation instrument. This policy provides assurance that non-ASN teachers registered in Dapodik (with a deadline of 31 December 2024) can continue their noble duties until 31 December 2026.