Teachers demand better pay

Agus Maryono, The Jakarta Post, Purwokerto, Central Java

Some 200 teachers from private schools in Banyumas regency, Central Java, took to the streets on Wednesday to protest their low wages.

The teachers demanded that the Banyumas administration start paying them salaries and allowances, as received by teachers at state-owned schools.

"Teachers at state-owned schools receive a salary and other allowances, while some 3,500 teachers at the private schools here only receive a teaching fee," the protest coordinator, Saeran Samsidi, said.

The protest was held in front of the Banyumas regency legislative council.

After several minutes of speeches, several representatives of the protesters were allowed to meet with regency secretary Bambang Priyono and the chairman of the legislative council's Commission E for social welfare, Musyadad Bikri Nur.

During the meeting, the protesters demanded the local government establish a standard salary for all teachers, not just those at state schools.

Saeran said many teachers who worked at private kindergartens only received Rp 25,000 (US$2.90) a month, while teachers at private high schools were paid Rp 150,000 a month.

Because education is a basic right for all Indonesians, the government is obliged to subsidize private schools and to pay teachers, including those who work at private schools, Saeran said.

Private schools in large cities tend to pay salaries comparable to or better than the salaries received by teachers at state schools. This is because the people who send their children to private schools are financially able to pay high school fees.

But this is not true in the regions, where parents do not have the financial clout to support private schools by paying high fees.

Education has in the past always seemed like a non-priority for the government, with less than 20 percent of the annual state budget being allocated for education.

In the 2002 state budget, the money allocated for education reached 25 percent of the total budget, but so far this has meant little in terms of improving the welfare of teachers.

Saeran said the money from the state budget had been used to renovate damaged school buildings, but not to increase the salaries of teachers.