Teacher Welfare Between The Complexity Of Problems And The Promise Of Populis Candidates

President Joko Widodo at the commemoration of the 78th Anniversary of the Indonesian Teachers Association (PGRI) and National Teacher's Day (HGN) 2023 in Jakarta, Saturday (11/25/2023). (Between/Yashinta Difa/aa)

JAKARTA During the commemoration of Teacher's Day on November 25, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) highlighted a number of educational problems, one of which was the matter of infrastructure and the welfare of teaching staff.

According to Jokowi, education infrastructure between one region and another is very different. In fact, equitable infrastructure is one of the requirements for creating quality education.

He also asked the Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Mendikbud Ristek) Nadiem Makarim to find solutions to solve the inequality of education infrastructure.

President Joko Widodo attended the commemoration of the 78th Anniversary of PGRI and National Teacher's Day 2023 in Jakarta, Saturday (11/25/2023). (Between/Bayu Pratama S)

"I compare it with the vocational schools in the city, indeed the infrastructure is very different, and that is the task of the minister of education," said Jokowi on the commemoration of PGRI's 78th Teacher's Day and Anniversary in Jakarta, Saturday (11/25/2023).

However, that is not the only problem in the field of education. There are still many problems faced in this field, including regarding the welfare of teachers. Unfortunately, the welfare of teachers and the improvement of the world of education are still not a priority for presidential and vice presidential candidates ahead of the presidential election (Pilpres 2024).

The National Board of the Education and Teacher Association (P2G) provides a critical note on the vision and mission of the presidential candidates in the field of education and teachers. P2G assesses that the three current presidential candidates, namely the Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar pair, Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka, and Ganjar Pranowo-Mahfud MD, have not touched five issues and fundamental issues of Indonesian teachers.

P2G detailed several fundamental problems for teachers in Indonesia, two of which were regarding the welfare and competence of teachers. In addition, recruitment and distribution of teachers are also considered to be still in disarray.

"Our teachers are centralized in urban areas, while in the interior there is a shortage of teachers, so those who relatively get access to education are those in urban areas," said P2G National Coordinator Satriwan Salim.

The last two problems related to Indonesian teachers are about the protection of teachers who have minimal and poor teacher career development.

From a series of educational and teacher problems in Indonesia, P2G assesses that the promise of the three pairs of presidential and vice presidential candidates is still a partial and populist solution.

"This three-pair promise does not yet view and offers a comprehensive solution as a national education system," he continued.

Ahead of the 2024 presidential election on February 14, the three presidential candidates who will compete have leaked a number of programs in order to attract voters.

One of the interesting issues discussed in each election edition is the issue of education and the welfare of teachers in it. But as before, the promises of the presidential candidates to prosper teachers like dreams in broad daylight or too populist, according to a number of circles.

Talking about the welfare of teachers, it means talking about income. Of the three existing presidential candidates, two of them touched on the welfare of the teachers as outlined in their work program plans.

Pair number 2, Prabowo-Gibran, said that it would increase teacher allowances by Rp. 2 million per month. If calculated, then this idea will suck up the state budget of Rp. 79.2 trillion per year.

Meanwhile, pair number 3, Ganjar and Mahfud MD, discussed the teacher's salary of Rp. 20 million per month as a form of appreciation for the teaching staff. Despite appreciating the plan, P2G considered the discourse too grandiose so it was difficult to realize.

"In the real calculation of P2G, this discourse is unrealistic, because Rp. 20 million multiplied by 3.3 million teachers means Rp. 66 trillion per month. As a result, the state must prepare a jumbo budget of Rp. 792 trillion for teacher salaries, not added the 13th salary and THR per year," explained Satriwan Salim.

"It is impossible, the budget for teacher salaries exceeds 20 percent of the state budget for education," added Satriwan.

Meanwhile, members of the successful team of the Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar coalition, Indra Charismiadji, did not dismiss the complexity of education and teachers in Indonesia. However, he emphasized that improving teacher welfare is not always directly proportional to improving the quality of education.

Talking about educating, teachers are always at the forefront, as the spearhead in any country. But the conditions in Indonesia are very compactated, very complicated. Some efforts have been tried but the results do not lead to intelligence," said Indra.

Indra explained the World Bank's study with the theme dual to nothing, when Indonesia provided teacher professional allowances (TPG). But apparently the TPG given does not always have an impact on improving the quality of education.

For information, teacher professional allowances are given based on Government Regulation (PP) Number 41 of 2009. In this case, TPG is given one basic salary per month for teachers who already have an educator certificate and meet the requirements.

This allowance is expected to improve the welfare, competence, and professionalism of teachers so that it can increase student learning achievements.

"But it turns out that it does not improve the quality or quality of our education," Indra emphasized.

Indra added that another complex thing is the ratio of teachers in Indonesia which is too high. This means that the number of teachers in Indonesia is too many, namely 1:15, whereas according to him, the ratio of teachers in other countries can be 1:20.

Referring to this fact, Indra again presented quite surprising data from the World Bank. It is stated that teachers in Indonesia will find it difficult to achieve prosperity because the number is too large, which is around 3.3 million teachers.

"Whatever the budget, if it is divided into many existing teachers, it will not be sufficient," he said.