Substitute teachers demand govt attention

Substitute teachers demand govt attention

Ainur Sophiaan, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya

Many temporary or substitute teachers working in both state
and privately-run schools have demanded that the government pay
more attention to them by improving their welfare and providing
them with legal protection.

The issue was raised on Monday at the end of a three-day "Omar
Bakrie" congress, which was held by the Association of Indonesian
Non-permanent Teachers at the Sukolilo Haj Dormitory in Surabaya.

The congress, which used the name of a famous teacher from the
past who was a symbol of devotion without proper compensation,
was attended by 200 representatives of the association's branches
in Central, East and West Java, Jakarta, South Kalimantan and
South Sulawesi.

Sapardi, head of the association, explained that his
organization was set up on July 12, 2000, with the aim of working
for the improvement of conditions for the teachers.

He expressed concern over allegations of discrimination on the
part of both the government and the public with regard to their
status as non-permanent employees.

"There is different treatment given to permanent and non-
permanent teachers both in the provision of banking credits,
legal protection and educational allowances," he said.

The organization claimed to have a membership of over 50,000
non-permanent teachers. The number of non-permanent teachers is
estimated to reach about 500,000 throughout the country.

Sapardi further explained that a permanent teacher got a
monthly salary of at least Rp 1 million (US$100), while a non-
permanent teacher got only between Rp 40,000 and Rp 200,000 per
month even though their working hours were nearly similar.

Moreover, they were all teachers with the same duty and
responsibility, he said.

Sapardi expressed concern over the absence of standardization
in the wages for non-permanent teachers, which, in privately-run
schools salaries ranged from Rp 3,000 to Rp 5,000 per hour, while
in state schools it was only Rp 1,000.

Therefore, he underlined the importance of the issuance of
regional regulations on the standardization of teachers' payment
in a bid to wipe out the discrimination and the gap between the
permanent and non-permanent teachers.

"Moreover, it's already time for the formulation of a Law on
Teachers' Protection to prevent the school management to
indiscriminately dismiss teachers without any clear reason," he
said.

Herry Achmadi, a member of the House of Representatives'
Commission IV on education, said at the congress that his
commission was in the process of urging the government to
allocate more money from the 2002 draft budget for privately-run
elementary and junior high schools.

The provision of greater funds was expected to enable the
schools to raise allowances for the non-permanent teachers, he
said, admitting that both the discrimination and generally poor
conditions did exist.

"We will try to help fight against such discrimination," Herry
added.