SBY to raise teachers' pay, Kalla to up budget

The three presidential candidates have agreed to raise the quality of education, with Megawati Soekarnoputri pledging to bring back character-building classes in the school curriculum and Jusuf Kalla aiming to increase funding for education to 25 percent of the state budget.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has promised to set a minimum take-home pay of Rp 2 million (US$197.60) per month for teachers and Rp 13 million for professors.

"What the country needs is to put character building and a sense of national belonging back into our schools," Megawati said in teleconference with the other two presidential candidates at the Forum of Indonesia's Rectors on Monday.

The teleconference was aired on TVOne.

Megawati-Prabowo campaign team member, Eva Kusuma Sundari, said the pair would also replace the controversial Education Entity Law (BHP), which they said was responsible for the commercialization of education.

"This is a good start to making sure people's right to education is provided," Eva told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

She said the pair would also make sure 20 percent of the state budget continued to be allocated to the education sector and that they would replace the national test.

Kalla said he planned to give students greater access to free education until senior high school.

"If necessary, we will increase the funding for education to 25 percent of the national budget," Kalla told the same forum.

Kalla-Wiranto campaign team member, Indra J Piliang, said the pair would also prioritize the improvement of the informal education sector to create a highly skilled labor force that would support the establishment of a resilient economy.

"For Kalla, improving the quality of education plays an important role in advancing the country's economy," Indra told The Post.

"If elected, the Kalla-Wiranto pair will upgrade the quality of our educational system, both at the formal and informal level, by allocating more funding to help build a resilient economy."

He said the Kalla-Wiranto pair would also provide workers migrating overseas with training before sending them abroad.

"We want our migrant labor to work in white-collar jobs overseas, not only as housemaids," he said.

Yudhoyono pledged to continue raising teachers' salaries.

"I will raise the quality of our education so that we can compete globally," he told the rectors.

SBY-Boediono campaign team spokesman Rizal Malarangeng said Monday that teachers' pay was closely linked to their quality.

"And the key to a successful educational system depends on the quality of our teachers," he said.

"We will continue to implement this target nationwide. We also aim to give additional allowances to teachers and other educational workers in order to lift the quality of our educational system," he said.

Rizal added his campaign team aimed to lift quality standards of both state and private educational institutions. The Yudhoyono-Boe-diono pair also aims to keep allocating 20 percent of the state budget toward education.

"Our budget target is important, particularly to renovate school buildings in remote areas and bring information technology to all schools throughout the nation," Rizal said. (bbs)

Megawati S.-Prabowo S.

Campaign jargon/statements
- Withdraw legal education entity law (BHP) "The law is against the spirit of our Proclamation of Independence. This is an example of neoliberalism." (Prabowo)
- Scrap National Exams and localize testing "Education in Indonesia has been wrongly perceived because *the people think* education can only be obtained at school." (Megawati)
- Give milk, vitamins and eggs to students from poor families
- Annul education fees through senior high school, and provide loans to college students
- Maintain 20 percent of state budget for education

Track record
- Megawati failed to realize 1945 Constitution's mandate to allocate 20 percent of state budget for education during her term in office
- Initiated the controversial BHP Law
- Enacted the National Education System Law
- Annul education fees through junior high school

SBY-Boediono

Campaign jargon/statements
- Maintain 20 percent of state budget for education
- Eradicate corruption within education sector, increase controls on use of funds
- Continue with current education system and national exams for the next five years"The fulfillment of people's basic rights must be prioritized. Justice should be applied in education because education will boost our country's competitiveness." (Yudhoyono)
- Raise the quality of junior and senior high school graduates

Track record
- Allocated at least 20 percent of the 2010 budget for education, in line with the 1945 Constitution
- Tripled the education budget from Rp 65 trillion in 2005 to 207 trillion in 2009
- Despite the huge funding allocation, the future of 250,000 contract-based teachers remains unclear
- Corruption in education sector remains rampant
- Widespread cheating in national exams each year
- Enacted controversial BHP law

Jusuf Kalla-Wiranto

Campaign jargon/statements
- Raise quality of elementary, junior, senior high school graduates while closing the gap between quality of graduates in Java and outside Java
- Continue increasing funding for educationIt is not impossible to increase the education budget to 25 percent of the state budget, because we know the foundation for doing this is education and quality human resources." (Kalla)
- Make universities a center for science and technology research
- Allocate more funds for research, and create links between schools and businesses
Track record
- Yudhoyono's programs during 2004-2009 also attributed to Kalla