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View all search resultsTeachers' welfare remains poor despite govt's promises
Most nonformal teachers are paid far less than the regional minimum wage every month, despite government officials pledging to improve educators' welfare through various programs.
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An elementary school teacher teaches her pupils online due to worsening air quality caused by forest fires in Palembang, South Sumatra, on Oct. 5, 2023. (AFP/Al Zulkifli)
W
hen President Prabowo Subianto addressed lawmakers at the House of Representatives plenary session on Wednesday, part of the speech infuriated contract teacher Azzahra, 23.
At the speech, the President said he would increase teachers’ salaries by 300 percent. But he later corrected himself seconds later by saying that the raise was meant for judges instead.
“He actually knows teachers are paid poorly, but he chose to raise judges’ salaries instead,” Azzahra told The Jakarta Post on Thursday. “Hearing the President make that slip of the tongue honestly hurt. It felt like we were being mocked and unappreciated.”
She receives Rp 500,000 (US$28.30) every month for teaching math at a private junior high school in Tangerang, Banten. Her paycheck, which is far below the city’s minimum wage of Rp 5.3 million, can only sustain her for a few days, forcing her consider giving up being an educator.
The slipup has left Azzahra believing that the state pays little attention to educators, complaining that teacher-related issues are “never treated as a main priority”.
Azzahra is far from the only teacher in Indonesia to harbor such a sentiment, as educators in the country, especially those employed under nonpermanent schemes, continue to face welfare issues arising from inadequate paychecks.
Azzahra may not even be among the worst cases, according to Satriwan Salim of the Indonesian Teachers Association (P2G), many nonpermanent teachers in public schools are paid even less than their counterparts in private schools.
