President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has praised the Jakarta city administration'€™s move to hold open-call recruitment for civil servant posts in schools, community health centers, subdistricts and districts.

'€œI appreciate all the regional governments, provinces, regions and cities that have carried out open-call recruitment,'€ the President said in a written speech delivered by Administrative Reforms Minister Azwar Abubakar during a commemoration of the 42nd anniversary of the Indonesian Civil Servant Association (Korpri) at the National Monument on Friday, kompas.com reported.

In the speech, Yudhoyono said he believed the open-call recruitment system could help produce officials who worked hard and were dedicated to serving the public. He also hoped the system would advance good, transparent and respectful governance.

Meanwhile, Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama said what the city administration had done was implement the spirit of the 2012 civilian state apparatus law.

 '€œIn the future, civil servants will be more professional because they will not have gotten their jobs for political reasons,'€ he said, adding that the city administration would not hire people affiliated with a political party.

After wrapping up the first round of recruitment in the middle of this year to fill leadership positions in 267 subdistricts and 44 districts, this week the city opened registration for principal positions in 117 state high schools and 63 vocational high schools as well as for leaders of 44 communities.

Teachers welcomed the new process, because whereas previously a teacher who wanted to become a principal had to be proposed by his or her school and move through the education bureaucracies at the district, provincial and municipal level, now he or she can apply directly for the top job.

Sutadi, a history teacher at SMA 39 high school in East Jakarta, could not hide his excitement over the chance to apply for the job.

The 48-year-old teacher said after signing up through the online registration system on Wednesday, he had immediately started preparing for the open-recruitment tests, which include academic and psychological exams, plus an interview.

'€œI have done some research on the internet to gather information about the tests to become a principal and the tasks one must fulfill. I saved the data in one folder,'€ he said.

He also said he regularly checked the official website of the city administration to see whether there were any changes in the requirements, and he exchanged information with fellow teachers. Sutadi said he was a bit worried when he wasn'€™t able to log in to the system because his password was rejected.

'€œI checked with my friends who also registered and they experienced the same thing. So, I guess it must be a technical glitch,'€ he said.

The open-call recruitment, he said, was an opportunity he would not miss because previously, a standing principal usually only recommended his or her vice principals. His dream to become a principal would be much harder to attain under the previous system.

'€œI want to become a school principal because that way, I can make a policy to support children-centered learning, which will spark their creativity. Besides, this can be a leap for my career,'€ Sutadi said.

To apply for the job of principal, applicants must be '€œ3C'€ ranked civil servants in the Jakarta administration who have at least five years of teaching experience, a Bachelor'€™s degree or Diploma IV from an accredited university, must be aged 54 at the oldest and must be certified educators.

To date, Sutadi is among 5,845 civil servants teachers who are eligible to apply for the job. Data from the City Employment Agency (BKD) says as of Friday morning, there were 1,030 applicants for the vacancies in high schools and 61 applicants for community health centers.

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