Responding To Residents' Demands To Hold Morning-Afternoon Classes, Principal Of SMAN 2 Manokwari Confessed Heavy Due To Limited Number Of Teachers

The principal of SMAN 2 Manokwari, Andrianus Hara. (AMONG)

MANOKWARI - State High School (SMAN) 2 Manokwari in Manokwari Regency, West Papua Province, has not been able to meet the residents' demands to hold two teaching and learning activities in a day with morning and afternoon classes.

The principal of SMAN 2 Manokwari Andrianus Hara said the school was unable to hold morning classes and afternoon classes with a limited number of teachers.

"The teachers here are also mostly women and they need time to prepare class materials for tomorrow's lessons," said Adrianus in Manokwari, Antara, Tuesday, July 19.

With a limited number of teachers, organizing morning and afternoon classes will only add to the already heavy burden of teaching staff.

According to him, even now there are teachers who do double duty at SMAN 2 Manokwari. "There are teachers who also teach from class X to XII," he said.

In addition, Adrianus stated that according to the provisions each teacher is only tasked with teaching 24 hours a week and should receive additional income if working exceeds the task load.

"We have to talk about all of that if we want to propose morning classes and afternoon classes. Moreover, teachers also still have to prepare for tomorrow," he said.

He suggested that the addition of classrooms to accommodate more students must also be followed by an increase in the number of teachers.

"If a new school is created, the next problem is who will fill the school. Because the existing schools have less teachers because the appointment of teachers is also limited," he said.

He explained that SMAN 2 Manokwari currently has 31 classes from grades X to XII with a total of 1,160 students. There are 496 new students.

Meanwhile, the number of teachers at SMAN 2 Manokwari, according to him, is currently only 70 people, consisting of 36 teachers with civil servant status and 34 honorary teachers.

"With these teachers, there are still unfilled subjects, such as skills and art education," said Adrianus.