Teachers lament pay cut

PURWAKARTA, West Java: Teachers in Kemantren, Kiarapedes district, are lamenting the frequent cuts that officials from the Ministry of Education and Culture's local office take out of their salaries, Antara reported yesterday.

Some teachers said that in addition to the 11 "routine" deductions from their wages, they often find their salaries cut even further by local officials.

"Every month our salaries are cut by at least Rp 10,000 (US$4.25)," one of the teachers said.

Among the deductions are those for the Civil Servants Corps (Korpri) and Dharma Wanita, the organization which groups the wives of Korpri's members. Only last month, their salaries were cut by an additional Rp 2,500 to finance a gathering of the Indonesian Teachers Association.

"This is despite the fact that sometimes we have to pay for our own transportation when we have to go and teach in remote villages," said one teacher.

Sometimes the situation forces teachers to demand that parents pay a rice contribution to the Parent Teachers Association.

Elementary school teachers in the area make an average of Rp 250,000 a month. (swe)