Soldiers teach in Irian Jaya schools

JAKARTA (JP): Members of the Armed Forces (ABRI) serving in Irian Jaya have been called up to teach at rural elementary schools due to a severe shortage of teachers.

The recruitment was based on an instruction from the Trikora Military Command chief, according to Ismu Handono, the acting head of Irian Jaya's Ministry of Education and Culture office.

"They will get their honorarium soon this year," Ismu said on Saturday.

For the 1997/1998 fiscal year, the country's easternmost province needs 9,343 elementary school teachers and 1,572 senior high school teachers. But there is difficulty in recruiting teachers willing to be assigned to remote outlying areas, Ismu said.

"The situation worsened as many teachers abandoned their duties because they could not stand the loneliness," Antara quoted him as saying.

Irian Jaya is about four times the size of Java but its population is only 1,648,708 people.

The province has 2,257 elementary schools, 99 senior high schools and 23 vocational high schools.

Ismu said his office would provide additional incentives for the soldiers beginning this year. "I hope these incentives will encourage them in this additional assignment."

In the last four years, the government has given special incentives to civil servants working in remote areas of the country, including Irian Jaya, such as additional payments which are sometimes double their salary.

The government prioritized the hiring of local people to teach in their own village after they completed the two-year education training course at the Teacher's Training Institute. This policy has been unable to meet the growing demand for teachers. (06)