Teachers ask for additional incentive

Multa Fidrus, Tangerang

Teachers of Islamic elementary schools and middle high schools in Curug district, here, have complained that they did not receive the bonus that was promised to them by the regental administration for the first semester of this year.

"We were told that the incentive for this semester was distributed by the education agency last month, but none of us received the money," Muhidin, a teacher of Al Hikmah Islamic middle high school in Binong village, told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

Muhidin said that he and other Islamic school teachers had not received the monthly bonus since January.

"We received the collectively paid Rp 600,000 (US$64.5) incentive for the July-December period in January. We're supposed to get another six-month incentive this month," he said.

Separately, Didi Kusnadi, a teacher at Al Husna elementary school in Curug, also claimed that the school teachers had not received the money.

The teachers suspect embezzlement at the education agency, which is in charge of distributing the money.

According to Didi Kusnadi, the administration allocated the bonus in its budget two years ago, after Islamic school teachers demanded the administration improve their welfare.

Head of the regental education agency Mas Iman Kusnandar, expressed surprised at being asked to confirm the issue.

He said the incentives had been distributed to every school via the postal delivery service in May.

"My subordinates reported that they had disbursed the money to all schools. I'm afraid that there had been a misunderstanding among teachers about the new distribution mechanism," he said.

He further explained that the agency no longer transferred the money to the teachers' bank accounts as it did in 2002.

However, Kusnandar promised that he would soon investigate possible embezzlement of the money by his subordinates.