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Jakarta Post

Letters: Big question on teacher certification

To encourage his/her children to become better in any occasion, a parent usually provides a reward

The Jakarta Post
Thu, November 12, 2009

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Letters: Big question on teacher certification

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o encourage his/her children to become better in any occasion, a parent usually provides a reward. Therefore, the children will make as much effort as possible in order to get the reward. Such a method has been adopted by our government in increasing the quality of education.

The government provides a reasonable reward for teachers who are really qualified in their own field. It is intended to stimulate them to be more creative and be highly motivated in developing ideas.

However, this reward, known as a "profession allowance" is not as easy to obtain as putting our palm up and down. The latest regulation states that teachers should have at least five years' teaching experience and have collected 1,800 credit points.

The points can be gained from academic involvement such as teaching-learning process (suggested to have no less than 24 hours class meeting in a week); participation in academic seminars, workshops, training, etc.; socializing with colleagues; and many other requirements.

It is believed that by doing so, the quality of education in our country will gradually improve. In contrast, the process of reaching the goal taken by the teachers is sometimes unacceptable. Why do I say that?

Firstly, to collect the credit points mentioned previously, teachers often cheat.

When I joined an academic seminar at Metro, Lampung. Some applicants did not attend but they received certificates because they had paid for the event.

Another fact is that teachers tend to copy other teachers' certificates to have points to reach the requirement. It means that there is no qualifying process because they just hunt for the certificate as it has the points needed to get the "reward".

Secondly, as an effect of the new regulation on the profession allowance, many graduates of science study programs are attracted to becoming teachers. All they need to get a teaching certificate is six months or even less than that, sometimes without any teaching practice.

Such a phenomenon took place when I taught at a school in Bali some years ago.

There was a new teacher who at that moment was experiencing the classroom atmosphere for the first time. Students at the school said that this teacher entered the room and sat on his chair with sweat on his face and nothing to say.

After an investigation, it was found that he did not have prior teaching experience, as when he took the six-months teaching program for A IV certificate he did not experience teacher training.

Finally, the government in its role as a parent should pay attention to this problem.

It may be done by supervising the institutions or schools that hold teacher training programs in order to ensure the program is conducted intensively.

Moreover, for those who conduct academic seminars or workshops or any kind of academic events to be more professional, they ought not to only search for benefits as the most important thing is to pay deep attention to the participants' involvement.

I Putu Wirya Suta
SMAN 1 Seputih Banyak, Central Lampung

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