Indonesia Faces a Shortage of 1 Million Teachers in Public Schools

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – An additional 1 million teachers in Indonesia are needed within the country’s public school system, according to Indonesian Vice President Ma’ruf Amin.

For the past four years, the number of educators in Indonesia has gone down by 6 percent annually as many enter the retirement years.

Replacements of retired teachers have been slow while a growing number of Indonesians are enrolled in schools.

“The shortage of teachers has so far been met due to honorary teaching staff.”

Read also: Teachers, Students to Get Phone Credit Subsidy for Online Learning in Indonesia

The Indonesian Vice President said that the government views honorary teachers without a clear status to be at a disadvantage. Their livelihoods are far different than those who have a civil servant status.

Despite their talents and years of experience, honorary teaching staff in Indonesia’s public schools do not reap the benefits.

As such, the government plans on conducting open recruitment for public school teachers next year.

Read also: Up to 13M Jobless Estimated in Revised Outlook on Indonesian Labor Force

Ma’ruf Amin explained that the recruitment plans are partly to tackle the issue of their status as educators in the country.

Plans for 2021

The plan for honorary educators in Indonesia next year is to give them an opportunity to be promoted to a Government Staff with a Contract Agreement (PPPK).

Up to 1 million teachers who are currently not working and from Indonesia’s public and private schools registered under the Main Education Data as well as those who completed the Teaching Profession Education program can apply.

Read also: Jakarta Administration Urged to Monitor Intolerance in Schools

By employing these teaching staff, Indonesia has a more favorable chance of replacing the increasing number of retired teachers annually.

Currently, Indonesia does not require any form of training, lessons, or higher education qualifications for honorary teachers, but Ma’ruf Amin asserts that their competency level must be improved going forward.

Ma'ruf further outlined how not requiring higher competencies is a form of neglecting the quality of educators in Indonesia.

Three tries

Indonesia’s Ministry of Education and Culture will prepare online learning materials for prospective applicants of the PPPK program during which each honorary teacher will have three chances to take the exam.

Read also: Schools in Indonesia-Malaysia Border Area Reopen during Covid-19 Pandemic

“If the applicant fails the first exam, then they have another two opportunities to redo it.”

“Going forward, my hope is that there will no longer be a shortage of competent teachers in Indonesia and that teachers can fully focus on teaching,” said the Indonesian Vice-President.

(Writers: Albertus Adit, Deti Mega Purnamasari | Editors: Albertus Adit, Icha Rastika)

Source: https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2020/11/23/15555871/wapres-sebut-diperlukan-tambahan-1-juta-guru 

https://www.kompas.com/edu/read/2020/11/23/154217871/wapres-guru-honorer-diberi-tiga-kali-kesempatan-seleksi-jadi-pppk?page=all#page2