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View all search resultsPrabowo’s teacher rehabilitation highlights educators’ struggles
While the President’s gesture was applauded by teachers’ associations and education experts, many saw it as a reminder of the systemic issues plaguing Indonesia’s education system, particularly the chronic neglect of non-permanent teachers’ welfare.
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A teacher teachers students in a musholla (prayer room) of SDN Ciaripin state elementary school in Sukabumi regency, West Java on Aug. 22, 2024. Forty students are forced to relocate to the musholla in the past two months because their classrooms are heavily damaged. (Antara/Henry Purba)
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resident Prabowo Subianto has granted rehabilitation to two teachers from North Luwu, South Sulawesi, who were convicted for collecting money to help unpaid non-permanent teachers, a move that has drawn praise but also renewed calls to improve the welfare and security of Indonesia’s educators.
Shortly after returning from his state visit to Sydney, Australia, on Thursday, Prabowo met with Rasnal and Abdul Muis, both civil servant teachers at state senior high school SMA 1 Masamba in North Luwu. The meeting took place at Halim Perdanakusuma International Airport in East Jakarta, where the President signed their rehabilitation letter on the spot.
Deputy House of Representatives Speaker Sufmi Dasco Ahmad, who is also a senior official of the President’s Gerindra party, said he had coordinated with State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi over the past week to convey public calls for the teachers’ rehabilitation.
“By granting this rehabilitation, [the President] has restored the good name, dignity and rights of these two teachers. May this be a blessing,” Dasco said in the VVIP waiting room at Halim, as quoted from the Presidential Secretariat’s YouTube channel.
Rasnal and Abdul Muis were dismissed from their positions by the South Sulawesi governor on Aug. 21 and Oct. 4, respectively. Their dismissal stemmed from a 2018 case in which they collected Rp 20,000 (US$1.20) from parents to help fellow non-permanent teachers who had reportedly gone nearly 10 months without pay.
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A local non-governmental organization later reported them to police on suspicion of corruption, leading to their conviction and one-year prison sentence.
