Testing times for the nation's teachers

The media has been full of stories in recent weeks of teachers going on strike, from Lampung to Central Java, demanding retroactive payment of salary raises. Unfortunately, this is only more confirmation of the lowly position of the teaching profession in today's society. The Jakarta Post's Maria Endah Hulupi, Hera Diani, Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak and Bruce Emond delve into what must be done to give teachers better marks in life.

JAKARTA (JP): It is a common sight to see small fliers, posted on trees and electricity poles in the capital, advertising tutoring in everything from the sciences to English.

This is just one of the ways low-paid state school teachers make ends meet. Others open food and drink stalls, or work as motorcycle taxi drivers. There are also those who reportedly get extra income through more unsavory means, including taking bribes from parents anxious to assure their children get good grades.

On a starting monthly salary sometimes as low as Rp 700,000, many teachers do not have the luxury of living close to their schools, instead forced to leave early in the morning to reach their workplace by public transportation.

Their frustration boiled over with the strikes.

"State officials have received their back pay, while teachers haven't. This is an indication that teachers always come second and are considered as nothing but a financial burden," said Mohamad Surya, head of the Indonesian Teachers Union.

Mohamad, who also teaches at the Bandung Education University (formerly the Bandung Teachers Training Institute), said that teachers' welfare needs -- such as health insurance and pension plans -- plus good work conditions and career planning were woefully inadequate.

"With inadequate earnings, don't expect them to perform professionally," he added.

It has not always been that way. Legislator and educator Mochtar Buchori said teachers were looked up to in society during the Dutch colonial period and were well paid.

"Teachers were very respected members of society, trained in important aspects of life, (such as) how to talk well, social manners, they became models in the village ... "

He said their status in society started to decline in the 1950s when the teacher training system was changed and their earnings did not improve. "Now you could say that a teaching job is not aspired to by the best minds in the country ... so now they go into teaching by default because they couldn't get another (similar) job."

But better times could lie ahead if the government fulfills its promises. The education allotment in the draft state budget announced earlier this month was 24.7 percent, a huge increase from 4 percent in the 2001 budget and on par with figures for Singapore, Malaysia and many European countries.

Still, Minister of National Education Abdul Malik Fajar said teachers must be patient in their demands for better welfare and that going on strike was not the right approach.

"Poor welfare is this country's problem. All civil employees face similar problems, not only teachers. The government has set up a program to improve the people's welfare through education," he told The Jakarta Post in an interview.

"It's not that the government treats teachers like a stepchild, but they have to be patient. My office is now working on solving the problems of the teachers' poor welfare. The teachers' condition will be improved gradually."

But it is feared that some developments, including the changing of the status of Teacher Training Institutes (IKIP) to universities, with a mixed curriculum of education and noneducation courses, in 1996 to attract more students, may actually work to the detriment of the profession.

"Now, students who study at the (former) Teachers Training Institutes do not necessarily want to be teachers," said education expert J. Drost.

"The quality of education is poor because we never have professional teachers. Local teachers are not required to pass magistrate or professional levels for teaching and this means that many IKIP graduates have yet to fully master the teaching subjects and techniques. This makes them no better than any other person teaching the subject."

Poor teaching techniques, he added, are reflected in the character of students and the Indonesian people in general. "We have seen many smart people without character and social responsibility," he added.

Quality teachers

But is more attention to teachers' needs a guarantee of improved education in Indonesian schools, recently voted the worst among 12 countries in Asia in a survey of expat executives in the region?

Education expert Arief Rachman said a major concern was that if teacher welfare did not improve there would be a dearth of good teaching candidates in 10 years' time. However, he added that it was too easy to lump all the blame on the government.

School administrators also have to actively seek financial support from society to be able to upgrade their facilities and human resources. "For their teachers, schools may need to launch in-service training to brush up their humanistic teaching approach, to improve teachers' knowledge and to upgrade their educational technology."

Mochtar, while acknowledging teachers were "overexploited and underpaid", said it was not enough for teachers to simply demand higher pay.

"Everywhere in the world, in a normal society, teachers do not become rich -- if you want to be rich, you go into business. But teachers must be able to have a house, transportation, send their kids to school, set aside funds ... It can be done in other Asian countries, but not in Indonesia .... "

Teachers need to organize themselves better in their fight and present a proposal stating why they deserve the higher pay, he said. But a pay raise would mean entering into a "social contract" with the government in defining what concrete measures they would take to improve student performance and also to tighten ethical standards.

"For instance, don't ask for money from parents," Mochtar said. "If you are still willing to become a teacher, you have to accept the conditions, and if you don't, then quit."

Drost forecast a bumpy road toward better provincial education in the era of regional autonomy because educated people, including teachers, would flee the provinces for urban jobs.

Mohamad warned that without a national standard, autonomy would pose a problem to national education.

"We fear that regions will apply different standards for teachers, from which seeds of disintegration can emerge. (For example) it's impossible to recruit only Manokwarians as teachers in Manokwari. It's not our idea of national unity.

"I believe that teaching is a strategic profession, like doctors and the military, and they can be posted in different provinces and carry out their duties under national standards in terms of welfare, job satisfaction and professionalism," he said.

For that purpose, Mohamad said it was important to set up a committee in every school which would report to an education board at the mayoralty level. "This way local people can determine what is needed to develop local education and what kinds of facilities and training for local teachers are needed," he said.

Still, despite the low pay and lack of status, there are young people intent on becoming teachers, such as Agus Timorwoko, who is in his final year at Jakarta State University's School of Physics.

"I've always wanted to become a teacher. And I still do. Teachers' low salary and lack of welfare even makes me want to fight for teachers' rights," said Agus, who is also the secretary-general of the Student Executive Body at the university, formerly an IKIP.

It is time, he said, that teachers got a better deal.

"Not just with money, but also social recognition."