Government Announces Salary Increase, Deputy Chairman Of Commission X DPR Hope Teacher Quality Increases

Presiden Prabowo Subianto menyampaikan pidato pada puncak peringatan Hari Guru Nasional 2024 di Jakarta International Velodrome, Jakarta, Kamis (28/11/2024).

JAKARTA - Commission X of the Indonesian House of Representatives appreciates the government's move to announce an increase in teacher salaries starting next year. In line with that, the Commission in charge of education also hopes to improve the quality of educators for the improvement of Indonesia's human resources.

"Of course, this is good news for teachers. The increase in salary can have an impact on improving the welfare of teachers. It is hoped that teachers will be more prosperous," said Deputy Chairman of Commission X DPR from the PKB faction, Lalu Hadrian Irfani to reporters, Friday, November 29.

It is known, the government has just announced an increase in the salaries of teachers, including non-ASN teachers, an increase of Rp. 2 million, while ASN teacher salaries will experience an increase of one basic salary of each teacher. With a note, non-ASN teachers who will get an increase in salaries are those who have passed teacher certification.

Nevertheless, the legislator for the NTB electoral district assessed that the increase in teachers' salaries must be followed by improving the quality of teachers. So that teachers must try to improve their competence and ability to teach.

"The trick is to continue to learn, read a lot, attend various trainings, and be open with various inputs. Teachers must not be lazy and must not be complacent. Teachers must also continue to learn, conduct self-evaluation, and participate in competency improvement training," said Lalu.

According to Lalu, the challenges of the nation in the future are getting tougher, so teachers must adapt to the times. Especially the rapid development of the digital world.

"Of course, teachers must follow the development of digital media and be able to use it in learning," he said.

If the quality of teachers increases, continued Lalu, the quality of education will also increase. Because, he said, teachers are the spearhead in education.

"Teachers who have good teaching skills, students will also easily understand the knowledge conveyed," he said.

In addition to increasing the salaries of ASN and non-ASN teachers who have passed certification, added Lalu, the government must also pay attention to non-ASN teachers who have not passed certification. The government, according to him, needs to encourage honorary teachers to follow certification, so that welfare increases.

He hopes that the government's plan to carry out teacher professional education (PPG) for 806,486 teachers can be carried out next year. Currently, there are 1,932,66 teachers certified by educators or 64.4 percent of the total teachers.

"The condition of honorary teachers is very concerning. Their salaries are very small. In fact, many of them have been teachers for a long time. The government must also pay attention to them," he said.

Previously, President Prabowo Subianto announced that the budget allocation for the welfare of ASN and non-ASN teachers would increase in 2025 to IDR 81.6 trillion, an increase of IDR 16.7 trillion compared to the previous year.

The policy was announced by the President during a speech on the agenda of the peak commemoration of National Teacher's Day 2024 at Velodrom Rawamangun, East Jakarta, Thursday, November 28.

"Today I am a bit calm standing in front of the teachers, because I can say that even though we have only been in power for one month, we can announce that we can improve the welfare of teachers," he said as quoted by ANTARA.

In this activity, the President emphasized the importance of the role of teachers in the nation's development, as well as announcing various new policies aimed at improving the welfare of educators.