Jakarta – Association of Education and Teachers (P2G) hopes that the three pairs of presidential and vice presidential candidates can prioritize the welfare of teachers in their respective visions and missions.
“The mission and program of the presidential candidates are still populist and have not touched on the root of education and teacher problems,” said National Coordinator of P2G Satriwan Salim in a statement in Jakarta, Monday (27/11/2023).
Satriwan said that the welfare of teachers, which still needs to be improved, is one of several problems that teachers still face and need support from various parties, including presidential and vice presidential candidates.
“Moreover, this issue always becomes the main issue in line with the Financial Services Authority (OJK) recording that 42 percent of Indonesians who are trapped in online loans work as teachers,” he said.
This means that the teaching profession is very financially vulnerable, considering that the majority of honorary teachers are paid only Rp 300 thousand to Rp 500 thousand per month and are paid once every three months.
In addition to the welfare of teachers, other problems are the need for optimizing teacher competencies and improving teacher recruitment and distribution systems, maximizing teacher protection, and supporting teacher career development.
P2G encourages presidential and vice presidential candidates to have a strategy to prepare teacher competencies in accordance with the Teacher and Lecturer Law, including strategies for managing and revitalizing Teacher Education Institutions (LPTK).
Head of Teacher Advocacy P2G Iman Zanatul Haeri said the revitalization of LPTK must be done because this institution plays a very important role in preparing professional and competent teachers.
According to him, Teacher Professional Education (PPG) should go through a concurent teacher education pattern, which is teacher professional education that is integrated with regular lectures to be effective in terms of time and budget.
In addition, there are currently 1.6 million teachers who have not been certified, even though a teaching certificate is a mandatory requirement for professional and competent teachers in accordance with Law Number 14 of 2005 concerning Teachers and Lecturers.
Therefore, P2G wants a commitment from the three presidential and vice presidential candidates to be able to complete the 1.6 million teachers who do not have an education certificate, especially teachers who have been teaching before 2015.
P2G also hopes that the three presidential and vice presidential candidates can provide solutions to the ongoing need for restructuring the recruitment system, especially Civil Servants with Employment Agreements (PPPK).
To date, there are 62 thousand teachers who have passed the PPPK teacher selection but have not obtained positions from regional governments.
In fact, Indonesia has about 3.3 million teachers who teach nearly 50 million students at all levels, so the teacher-student ratio is 1:15, which means that there is still a need for improvement and equal distribution of teachers, especially in remote areas.
