Teachers protest against 'discrimination'

TANGERANG: Some 1,000 kindergarten, elementary and high school teachers grouped in the Tangerang branch of the Indonesian Teachers' Union (PGRI) staged a rally at the local municipal offices on Thursday to protest against what they claimed was the discriminative treatment they had been subjected to for so long.

Minto, who represented the other teachers, said that administrative staff received a Rp 300,000 transportation allowance per month each, but a teacher only received Rp 150,000.

"Is that fair? The administrative staff are civil servants and we, teachers, are too. So, we should receive the same amount," he told reporters.

The teachers also demanded that the administration soon issued a bylaw on teachers and educational matters.

"Since the regional autonomy policy has taken effect, the education agency should have more authority in deciding on education policies, including determining the transfer of teachers from one school to another," he asserted.

He said that only the municipal Human Resources Agency (BKD) had the authority to authorize the transfer of teachers and administrative staff.

The teachers also protested the appointment of the administration's deputy chief Harry Mulya Zain as the education agency's new director as he had no experience in educational matters.-- JP