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)