Contract teachers demand civil service status

Five-hundred contract teachers from various regions in Indonesia marched from the Presidential Palace on Jl. Medan Merdeka Utara to the International Labor Organization (ILO) office on Jl. MH Thamrin demanding civil service status.

Indonesian Contract Teacher Forum (FHI) chair Nuraini said during the rally on Tuesday that the teachers had three demands of the government.

"The first demand is, the government must ensure all contract teachers attain civil service status immediately. The second is, teachers get their status without sitting a test. The third is, the teachers gain this status without handing over money," she said.

Nuraini said contract teachers were confronted with challenges. "We receive a meager salary, but if we want civil service status, we have to give kickbacks to certain government officials,” she said.

She said there are 600,000 contract teachers across the country. Many were paid less than Rp 500,000 per month, far lower than the minimum regional wage ranging between Rp 675,000 and Rp 1,350,000 for singles with one year's experience.

"Many of us have been working for dozens of years," she said.

One demonstrator, Diah, came from Sumedang, West Java. Diah is a kindergarten teacher who said she receives a Rp 100,000 monthly salary.

"We came to Jakarta by bus," she said. (lfr)