Part-time teachers demand clear status, decent salary
Ainur Rohmah, The Jakarta Post, Semarang | Wed, 02/22/2012 9:36 AM
Part-time teachers in Semarang municipality and Wonogiri regency, Central Java, are demanding that the government give more clarity to their employment status and their salaries, arguing that they received very little from their teaching activities.
The demand emerged on Tuesday during a hearing between the Part-time State School Teachers Communication Forum (FKGTT-SN) Semarang and the Part-Time Kindergarten Teachers Communication Forum (FKGWT-TK) Wonogiri with the Central Java Legislative Council’s Commission E overseeing the issue.
“We receive only Rp 300,000 a month at the maximum. Some only receive Rp 150,000 a month,” Sukijo of FKGTT-SN Semarang told the hearing.
The chairman of FKGWT-TK, Efriza, blamed the condition on their unclear employment status. “We aren’t demanding to be appointed civil servants. We understand it requires a certain procedure. Yet, at least our status [as part-time teachers] should be acknowledged.”
Government Regulation (PP) No. 48/2005 and PP No. 43/2007 on civil servants ban government institutions from hiring contract staff or the like. Those already on contract since 2005 have the right to be appointed as civil servants.
“Yet, there are many part-time teachers who have been working since before 2005 and have yet to be appointed as civil servants or even recorded as such,” said Sukijo.
Separately, Central Java Education Agency head Kunto Nugroho said the provincial administration could not give any guarantees or assurances on the status of part-time teachers. He argued that it was nationally regulated.
He added that the uncertainty of being employed on a part-time basis was a recurring problem because of the failure of stakeholders at the regency or municipal levels to uphold PP No. 48/2005.
“If they keep on hiring part-time teachers without guaranteeing their careers, this problem will continue,” Kunto said.
Meanwhile, councillor Muhammad Zein of Commission E said 47,000 part-time teachers in the province had been working for at least one year before 2005, while 600,000 had been hired since 2005.
