Testing times for the nation's teachers

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."