Speaker Of The House Of Representatives: Educational Transformation Through Smart TV Must Be Balanced With Teacher Welfare

JAKARTA - Chairman of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Puan Maharani, assessed that the Government's efforts to encourage digital transformation in the education sector are a positive step to answer the challenges of the times. According to her, the distribution of technological devices to schools such as the Interactive Flat Panel (IFP) and smart TV can help improve the quality of learning in various regions.

This program is an important part of efforts to strengthen the national education system to be more equitable and adaptive to technological developments. Digital access can open up more interactive learning spaces for students," said Puan, Wednesday, August 27.

Nevertheless, Puan reminded that the success of digital transformation is also greatly determined by the readiness of the teachers. According to him, teachers remain the main factor in education, and their welfare cannot be ignored in this process.

Digital transformation can be successful if it is accompanied by a transformation of the welfare of teachers. If their quality of life and training are not adequate, then technological devices will not have an optimal impact," said Puan.

The former Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture said that until now there are still many teachers who face various challenges, ranging from income inequality, high workload, to limited access to technology training.

Puan also considered that there needed to be a more comprehensive policy approach to pay attention to the welfare of teachers at all levels and regions.

The welfare of teachers also needs to be a priority so that they can focus on carrying out their important role in the learning process. Prosperous teachers will be better prepared to adapt to change, including in the use of educational technology," he said.

Therefore, Puan encourages the implementation of digital transformation to also include intensive and sustainable training for the effective use of technology. Then, incentive schemes and special allowances for teachers who operate digital devices.

"The policy of decent income for teachers, including honorary teachers in the regions, also needs to be considered. Digital education is not just a matter of equipment. It is also a matter of the readiness of educators who carry out the daily learning process," concluded Puan.

As is known, President Prabowo Subianto said he would distribute 'smart screens' in all schools in the country. A total of 288 thousand smart televisions (Smart TV) will be present in school classes throughout Indonesia.

The distribution of smart TV as a form of commitment makes education one of the Government's priorities to break the chain of absolute poverty. This program is expected to make equitable the quality of education superior in all regions.

In its implementation, learning digitization is strengthened by the provision of media devices such as IFP, laptops, learning content storage media (external HDD), and others. This year, the target is 288,865 schools, and as of August this has been dispatched for stage 1.