The government implemented a teacher certification program two years ago with the aim of boosting Indonesian teachers skills, professionalism and salaries. It is time for us to ask whether that outcome was actually achieved and what steps need to be taken to strengthen that certification process.
Many teachers have passed the test and received their educator's certificate. Some received an additional professional allowance, sometimes as much as one month's salary on top of their pay. For many teachers, the certification process resulted in greater prosperity, so at least one of the original outcomes was achieved.
But some of them have not received this financial bonus yet despite passing the test. I hope the government will act on this and provide teachers with this bonus soon because it is additional salary for their families. If teachers are properly remunerated, they will spend less time working other jobs and spend more time focusing on their role as children's educators.
The crux of the teacher certification was to increase the quality and competency of teachers. How is this being fulfilled?
While some certified teachers are more competent than others because they studied hard for their bachelor degrees (S1) and graduated from top institutions, some others obtained theirs through payments made to irresponsible universities.
During the certification process, some teachers were less than ethical. There were reports of teachers submitting false data, and copying answers from their friends after skipping seminars.
Some never completed certain exercises on teaching skills, but received a certificate for it regardless. How could these teachers have become more professional through the program?
One major problem with the teacher certification system is that the minimum academic requirement is the BA (S1).
For those teachers from large cities, finding a university where you can study for a BA diploma is quite straightforward. But if a teacher living and working in a small village outside Java decided to get a BA, such a quality university would be difficult to find.
To add insult to injury, many are unable to leave their schools in the first place and often do not have enough money to pay for any further study. For them, the certification process is slow and difficult.
Another problem is that there is not an adequate number of places made available for teachers from private schools to undertake this certification. The majority of teachers in the program are from public schools, and generally there seems to be discrimination against private school teachers. This does not make sense, when all teachers, whether public or private, are ultimately educating the younger generation of Indonesians.
The government has to broaden its program acceptance rate to ensure more private school teachers are able to take the test. For private schools struggling to make ends meet, this is particularly important, as their teachers are often not paid at the standard rate. The certification would assist their livelihoods by boosting their incomes and diversifying the quality of teachers across Indonesia.
There are several steps the government needs to take to ensure the program is strengthened and beneficial for all teachers.
First, the certification process must be fair. Committees overseeing the program have to be more alert when accepting and examining data provided by teachers.
The teachers should be more aware of the fact that the pro-gram is designed to improve their competency, and as such they should be serious about providing true information and meeting the requirements.
Teachers should also be careful when selecting which university they want to study at. They have to choose a good university that provides a strong teaching-learning program within the course.
For teachers working far from universities or places for further study, the government should assist them. Teachers should be able to leave their schools temporarily if they are gaining extra qualifications, and should even be given scholarship assistance from the government to do so.
Without this assistance, they are not really in a position to obtain further education in order to do their jobs more effectively.
Now is the time for evaluating our certified teachers. We have to ask whether they are any more or less competent following the program, and most importantly whether or not they are more professional. The government is supposed to evaluate whether certified teachers actually teach better, communicate with students more frequently or help with their learning in a more effective manner.
The writer is a lecturer at Sanata Dharma University, Yogyakarta
