Wardiman doubts plight of underpaid teachers
Wardiman doubts plight of underpaid teachers
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Education and Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro has expressed skepticism about recent press reports that teachers are being strangled by debt, incurred because of their low pay.
Wardiman said on Friday that the assertion has yet to be confirmed by a thorough survey.
"I don't know how many teachers are being strangled by debt," he told reporters on Friday, when asked to comment on the press reports, according to Antara.
He said the press might be correct in saying that 100 elementary school teachers in a certain part of Indonesia are heavily indebted but, he continued, it would be wrong to generalize from this and assume that the problem applied to most other teachers.
Wardiman said neither the problem of low pay nor that of large debts was the monopoly of school teachers in the state sector. Other civil servants also receive low pay and some of them, too, are likely to have gone into debt, he said.
Teachers are among the lowest paid professionals in Indonesia. And, as if that were not enough, letters columns in major newspapers' often publish letters from teachers in outlying regions complaining that they have not received their wages for several months, or obtained promotions due to them.
The leading Kompas newspaper has run a series of articles over the past week about the hardships of teachers in the provinces.
In one report, it quoted Baharuddin Lubbis, the head of the North Sumatra Education and Culture Office, as saying that more than half of the 54,859 primary school teachers in the province were heavily indebted. The newspaper later reported similar problems among teachers in various parts of East Java.
One report told of a North Sumatra teacher who has to push a becak (trishaw) to supplement his meager income and repay his debts. Another story told of a teacher who has skipped work for the last few months, to work elsewhere, because of his indebtedness.
Some teachers in Jakarta, however, have said the reported hardship may be exaggerated, pointing out that teachers assigned to the provinces receive many perks with their posts.
They have said that many teachers do go into debt, mostly with their local cooperatives, but that that is a question of managing one's finances.
Jakarta teachers have also claimed that it is normal for teachers to take a second job, working either in other schools or in a different occupation, in order to supplement their income.
Minister Wardiman said it was not a sin to go into debt given that banks, stores and supermarkets nowadays offer credit to the public.
"One should be cautious in accepting offers of credit," he said. "But we have no control over such personal decisions." (29)