Jakarta – Chairperson of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Puan Maharani, appreciated the government’s policy to raise teachers’ salaries in 2025, both for ASN teachers and honorary teachers. Puan emphasized that improving teachers’ welfare is one of the steps to strengthen human resources (HR) in Indonesia.
“The improvement of teachers’ welfare is indeed a duty of the state, especially the government as the budget executor. Hopefully, the policy of increasing teachers’ salaries next year can enhance the quality of our nation’s educators,” said Puan in her statement on Monday (1/12/2024).
Puan also hopes that the salary increase policy can boost the morale of the teachers.
“The welfare of teachers is very vital considering that many educators still feel insufficient in meeting their daily living needs.” “Justice for teachers as the heroes of education must always be pursued,” she stated.
Many Teachers Trapped in Illegal Online Loans
Puan highlighted data indicating that inadequate welfare has resulted in 55.8% of teachers having side jobs, and 79.8% of teachers being in debt. Even the NoLimit research revealed that 42% of people caught in illegal online loans are teachers.
For that reason, Puan urged the Government not to forget the fate of honorary teachers whose earnings are still far from sufficient.
“Our shared hope is that the teachers who play a role in nurturing Indonesia’s future generations can live comfortably, whether they are civil servants, PPPK, or honorary teachers. So that they are no longer troubled by debt issues,” she said.
Puan also appreciates the teachers, the majority of whom continue to dedicate themselves to teaching until retirement, even with a modest income. According to her, the spirit of patriotism always flows from the blood of a teacher.
“It is important to understand that good welfare will certainly increase the motivation and productivity of teachers. This will impact the quality of learning in schools,” explained Puan.
“So, the quality of Indonesia’s education services will be the best when all issues related to teachers’ welfare can be resolved,” added Puan Maharani.
Challenges for the Government to Address Honorary Staff Issues
Although there will be an increase in teacher salaries in 2025, Puan believes there are still several challenges the Government faces in ensuring the quality of the education system in Indonesia.
Especially for honorary teachers whose fate is still unclear whether they will be appointed as PPPK. This is considering the previous Government’s target which promised to appoint 1 million honorary teachers as PPPK, which seems difficult to realize.
“We regret that the appointment of teachers as ASN or PPPK is slower than the pace of demand,” said Puan.
On the other hand, the program to appoint honorary teachers as PPPK has been marred by allegations of fraud in several regions. Recently, there have been issues with the difficulty of SK being issued to prospective PPPK or ASN teachers despite having passed the selection.
There are also modes of fraud involving the manipulation of teaching data in the Basic Education Data (Dapodik) of the Ministry of Education and Culture, which has now changed to the Ministry of Education and Culture for Basic and Secondary Education. Additionally, there have been cases of individuals who have never taught but are officially recorded in Dapodik as honorary teachers at public schools, allowing them to participate in the selection process and, even more surprisingly, pass as PPPK teachers.
Leave a Reply