Rejang Lebong Bengkulu Regency Experiencing Teacher Crisis

Various handicrafts produced by a number of schools in Rejang Lebong Regency were displayed during the 2022 HGN commemoration in the area recently/ANTARA

REJANG LEBONG - Education and Culture Office (Dikbud) Rejang Lebong Regency, Bengkulu Province said, the area is currently experiencing a teacher crisis caused by the large number of teachers who retire, die or move to other places. "If throughout 2022 there are dozens of teachers who retire, but thank God we also received a quota of Government Employee teachers with Work Agreements or PPPK as many as 141 people so that they could cover the number of teachers who retired," said Head of the Rejang Lebong Education and Culture Service, Rezza Fakhlevie when contacted in Rejang Lebong, Antara, Sunday, January 8. He explained that the number of teachers on duty in Rejang Lebong Regency currently reaches 3,668 people, with details of 1,879 ASN teachers and 1,789 teachers with honorary status. The teachers, he said, served in public and private schools ranging from PAUD/TK, SD and SMP levels spread over 156 villages/kelurahan in 15 sub-districts. "The number of teachers with ASN status in Rejang Lebong Regency continues to decrease due to many who have retired, then die and move to other areas. For those who apply to move to other areas, we have issued a moratorium and cannot," he explained. As a result of the shortage of teachers, a number of schools in the area, according to him, only have one ASN teacher, namely the principal, while the other is an honorary teacher who is financed with BOS funds. According to him, to anticipate the shortage of teachers in the area, his party has submitted a proposal to the central government for teacher admission through the selection of CPNS and additional teachers through PPPK. He asked schools in Rejang Lebong Regency that experience a shortage of teachers to empower human resources in each school so that they can temporarily cover the shortage of educators.