The Jakarta Employment Agency (BKD) has planned to fill in 7,000 vacancies for civil servant posts in the Jakarta administration this year, following approval from the Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Ministry.

“The 7,000 civil servant vacancies are for all the city’s regional working units [SKPD], 4,000 of which will replace the civil servants who have been retired,” BKD head of planning Chaidir said on Tuesday, tempo.co reported.

Most of the vacant posts would be filled in by teachers and medical personnel of the education and health agencies, he said, adding that the two agencies would follow the ministry’s guidelines.

The Jakarta administration, he said, had also set a civil servant quota for Jakarta athletes that won gold medals at the 2018 Asian Games, but it was up to the Youth and Sports Ministry to handle the athletes and their positions.

Jakarta City Council secretary of governance commission Syarif said there was an urgent need for new civil servants in the capital because, in the last four years, many civil servants had gone on to retirement.

“This is urgent because it would affect public services,” Syarif said on Tuesday.

He cited as an example the city's water resource agency, which he said needed technical recommendations from the Cipta Karya Jakarta Public Building, Planning and Land Directorate General when planning work programs, but the latter had limited experts.

He said there was also a need for positions within the education agency, while schools in Jakarta needed 14,000 additional teachers. (ami)