Teachers earn Rp 500 a day

Teachers earn Rp 500 a day

PALEMBANG, South Sumatra: Most part-time teachers at primary schools in the Ogan Komering Ulu regency get only Rp 500 (US$ 0.23) a day, Hamdan, chief of the local education and culture office said.

Hamdan said the wage is far from adequate in making ends meet and nobody knows when the teachers, and many of them who have worked for many years, will be admitted as regular civil servants.

The government recently set the minimum wage level in South Sumatra at Rp 3,500 (US$1.59) but the policy has not benefited the part time teachers, he said.

In some places, the teachers do not receive cash but get their wages in kind, Antara reported.

"We actually still need 2,365 permanent teachers, but since the government cannot afford to recruit them we have to rely on part-time teachers," Hamdan said.(kod)