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Lecturers welcome new allowances, but bemoan unequal treatment
The allowance came after lecturers throughout the country staged demonstrations against years of unpaid incentives, prompting President Prabowo Subianto to issue a regulation on March 27 mandating the provision of monthly performance-based bonuses, which is retroactive to January this year.
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Illustration of education fund. (Shutterstock/Power pow)
E
kfindar “Fina” Diliana made the journey from her native Central Java to Southern Papua in 2022 to fulfill her dream of becoming a lecturer. But, she faced a harsh reality check when she started her first month as a linguistics professor at Merauke’s state-run Musamus University.
“The cost of living in Merauke is similar to Jakarta. My paycheck was not enough to cover just the basics, let alone save up. I had to take a side job as an English tutor just to survive,” she told The Jakarta Post earlier this week.
For Fina, the recently announced and long-awaited performance allowance scheme for lecturers feels like “a breath of fresh air” since it would help her get by more comfortably and focus on her teaching at Musamus University.
The allowance came after lecturers throughout the country staged demonstrations against years of unpaid incentives, prompting President Prabowo Subianto to issue a regulation on March 27 mandating the provision of monthly performance-based bonuses, which is retroactive to January this year.
Islamic studies lecturer Ahmad Umam Aufi of Semarang’s Maritime Polytechnic in Central Java said the new incentive scheme was a step in the right direction for improving lecturers’ welfare.
“This is something we need to appreciate from the Prabowo administration. We have not received incentives for years, the previous administration had been disregarding our rights,” he said on Tuesday.
Read also: Lecturers in Indonesia struggle to balance responsibilities with low pay
