JAKARTA - The Constitutional Court (MK) rejected the judicial review of Law Number 14 of 2005 concerning Teachers and Lecturers who requested that the teacher's retirement age limit be changed from 60 years to 65 years.
"Rejected the applicant's application in its entirety," said Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court Suhartoyo reading the verdict of Case Number 99/PUU-XXIII/2025 in the Plenary Court Courtroom, Jakarta, Thursday, October 30, reported by ANTARA.
The case was requested by a teacher from Central Java named Sri Hartono. He highlighted the difference between the retirement age of teachers and lecturers. The law regulates the retirement age of a 65-year-old lecturer, while a 60-year-old teacher.
Hartono, in his inaugural session in June, said that the difference in the retirement age of teachers and lecturers was against the principle of meritocracy, creating injustice, and fueling social tensions between the teaching profession and lecturers.
Therefore, Hartono asked the Court that the teacher's retirement age limit be equated with a lecturer, which is 65 years.
However, the Court disagreed with the petitioner's argument. Constitutional Justice Enny Nurbaningsih said that the teacher's retirement age limit cannot be equated with a lecturer due to differences in conditions between the two professions.
"The functional position of a teacher requires education at least one level, while the functional position of a lecturer requires education at least two levels so that an ASN will only start serving as a functional position of a lecturer at a relatively higher age compared to ASN in a teacher's functional position," said Enny.
SEE ALSO:
If the teacher's retirement age limit is equated with the functional position of a lecturer, according to the Constitutional Court, the working period of a teacher will be longer than the lecturer. Because, in general, lecturers start working at a relatively higher age than teachers, namely after obtaining a master's degree.
"Therefore, according to the Court, there are no issues of norm constitutionality regarding the difference in the age limit for retirement between teachers and lecturers," said Enny.
In legal considerations, the Constitutional Court acknowledged the importance of the meaning of the teaching profession in the national education system. Enny said teachers should be 'very noble' professions and receive high awards' from society and the state.
However, Indonesia still lacks teachers, coupled with uneven distribution, causing the state's goal of providing access to quality education to all people is still a challenge that must be addressed immediately.
Based on the government's statement in the trial, said Enny, the number of ASN teachers under the authority of the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education who are over 55 years old reached 345,555 teachers.
"Biggest than the number of ASN teachers under the age of 35 who only reached 314,891 teachers," he said.
On that basis, the Court considered that there was still a need for recruitment policies and pension management so that the continuity of educators was maintained.
In addition to the issue of the number of teachers and the continuity of educators, the Court said that the challenge that is also the responsibility of the government is related to the welfare and motivation of teachers.
In this context, the Constitutional Court is in line with other Hartono arguments that state that limiting the age of teachers to 60 years old will cause demotivation for teachers who are entering the age of 60 years.
In fact, physically and psychologically they are still able to contribute greatly, especially to teachers with major professional functional positions who have a lot of qualified experience and expertise.
The Constitutional Court also asked the government to conduct a study on the retirement age limit for teacher functional positions, especially at the leading expert level. The study is considered important because the extension of the teacher's retirement age limit is the domain of legislators.
"According to the Court, it is important for the government to conduct a comprehensive study of teacher functional positions at the main expert level to reach the retirement age limit to 65 years," said Enny.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
