Teachers complain over dismissal

JAKARTA: About 60 teachers from the expensive Al Azhar Islamic school in Kemang, South Jakarta, complained to the Jakarta Legal Institute on Wednesday about their dismissal by Foundation Syifa Budi which runs the school.

Head of the trade union, Sukman Hermawan, said the kindergarten, elementary and junior and senior high school teachers were dismissed on June 25 because they demanded welfare improvements, including a rise in their salary.

The basic salary of some of the teachers who had worked for five years was only between Rp 200,000 and Rp 300,000, far below the minimum regional payment which is more than Rp 500,000.

The teachers first made the demand for the salary increase in February. A number of teachers were later suspended, but they were allowed to teach again when other teachers went on strike.

The foundation offered to give them a Rp 200,000 monthly allowance each, but they refused.

Syifa said that Al Azhar was an expensive school. A student paid a monthly tuition fee of Rp 250,000 while a new student was required to pay Rp 12 million to enroll.--JP