Teachers to get increase in benefits

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

After months of delay, President Megawati Soekarnoputri finally kept her promise to raise teachers' allowances by 50 percent, starting August 1, 2002.

The President postponed increasing the allowance in January due to the government's poor financial state.

State Minister for State Administrative Reform Feisal Tamim said after meeting Megawati at the State Palace on Monday, that the president had decided to fulfill her promise due to the state's improved financial condition.

"We have calculated for 1.7 million teachers, the state has allocated some Rp 772 billion (US$86.7 million) to pay the increase for five months as of Aug. 1, 2002," Feisal said.

The allowance would be raised to Rp 170,000 per month from the current Rp 112,500, he said.

The poor welfare of teachers has been an issue for a number of years with teachers often protesting their treatment.

The government has strived to cope with the teacher problem, with 20 percent of the state budget for development now allocated to education.

However, the significant increase is not sufficient to improve teacher's allowances as the money was used to repair school buildings across the country.

The state needs some Rp 1.7 trillion more to provide the 50 percent allowance increase. However, the Ministry of Finance has said the budget could not cover that much additional funding.

The minister also said that the president was also considering increasing civil servants' salary by 2003. "But, only if our state budget can cover that additional expenses."

Asked about government plans to cut the number of civil servants, Feisal said that it was still an idea and it would be discussed with officials from all related ministries on July 20.

"We will find a right concept of how to do the rationalization as we need more effective civil servants," he said.

The minister said of four million civil servants only 40 percent worked effectively, while the remaining 60 percent were a burden on the state.

He said the government would also provide two choices for unproductive staff: Early retirement or transfer.

"We will try to provide good solutions and not increase the unemployment rate because of the decision," he said.