Teachers in remote village stretch the meaning of dedication
Teachers in remote village stretch the meaning of dedication
By Prapti Widinugraheni
JAKARTA (JP): From school books and electricity to motor boats
and female teachers, desperate teachers living in isolated places
can come up with the most unusual, but logical, requests --
especially when they have a chance to meet their "boss", Minister
of Education and Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro.
"We have a serious lack of freshwater... Is it possible to
build some kind of water-filter plant at our place?" asked Rusli
Pattagoa, an elementary school teacher from a small island
located off Selayar Island, South Sulawesi.
Rusli was one of the 46 elementary school teachers from South
Sulawesi who met with Wardiman here recently to discuss their
problems -- and slip in a few requests here and there as well.
This is the fourth meeting held under the yearly program
sponsored by the Ministry of Education and Culture's South
Sulawesi provincial office.
Salahuddin M. Arief, head of the provincial office, said some
teachers in the region had actually requested a post in remote
areas, "because they knew that they might have a chance to travel
to Jakarta".
During the dialog, which coincided with the 1994 National and
International Teachers' Day, the teachers made various requests
to Wardiman. The majority of them asked for more school books,
teaching aids and other facilities.
Requests for radios, which they argued were the only means of
communication with the "outside" world, and the necessary
electricity to go with them, were also on top of the list.
Motorboats were also frequently mentioned. To reach the remote
schools from the small subdistrict capitals, one has to ride
along rivers or cross the seas, which may be as "fast" as three
hours or as long as a whole day -- in good weather.
Requests for new school buildings and new tiles came from one
teacher whose school was partly destroyed by a recent earthquake.
One young bachelor teaching in the Selayar regency went as far
as asking for more female teachers to "accompany" him at work.
Stories like these are actually nothing new to Indonesia. With
about 80 percent of the population living in rural regions and
with such a vast area, it is easy to understand that many
teachers in the country live in the so-called "remote areas".
Unlike urban teachers who can find almost everything they need
within reach, teachers stationed in more remote areas have to
make extra efforts to even reach their schools.
Is the compensation worth the efforts?
Sangkala is the principal of a remote school few kilometers
away from Ujungpandang's southernmost regency of Banteang. After
a long talk with The Jakarta Post describing how much he enjoyed
teaching, he finally admitted that the government had not yet
fulfilled its promise to give a "remote school subsidy".
Subsidy
His colleague Muhammad Amir from a village in the Bone regency
said there was no problem with his salary. "It's only that we've
never been given the subsidy, which adds 100 percent to our
salary".
"We should have received it two years ago...but it's probably
still in process," he said.
Sangkala said his salary amounts to Rp 300,000 (US$138) a
month and, with various allowances, could add up to Rp 400,000.
Amir, who did not seem to complain much about his salary, did
however criticize the transportation, communication and health
facilities, which he said were very poor. Not to mention the lack
of electricity.
These problems often caused his students to miss out on
important events which would otherwise allow them to socialize
more with students of other schools. "They can't participate in
camping activities, sports contests and things like that because
we are too far away from other schools," said Amir, whose school,
located 10 kilometers from the nearest subdistrict of Cenderana,
can only be reached by motorboat.
Physical obstacles are not the only problems found in teaching
in remote and isolated villages. There is also the "cultural
problem." Isolated societies often have an entirely "different"
way of viewing schools compared to more advanced city people.
Most of the teachers from South Sulawesi who met with Wardiman
were natives and were therefore quite familiar with the language
and lifestyles of the areas in which they worked.
They nevertheless have to assume the role of "agents of
change" if they intend to live up to the ideal standards of being
a teacher, meaning that they sometimes have to break down the
walls of local traditions.
"My school becomes only one-third full when harvesting time
comes... There's nothing I can do about it," said Sangkala, who
is the principal of the state-owned Tamabongong school.
He said that this didn't stop school activities from
proceeding as usual since he and his five subordinates continue
to teach regardless.
"I usually teach because there are only five teachers for six
classes, but sometimes the first grade teacher helps out because
they finish earlier... That's the only way we can manage to run
this school," he said.