FSGI Highlights Promises To Increase Teacher's Salary: Prank Or Misunderstanding?

A demonstration by honorary teachers in Jakarta May 2023 (ANTARA)

JAKARTA The Federation of Indonesian Teachers' Unions (FSGI) strongly criticized the campaign promise of President Prabowo Subianto and Vice President Gibran Rakabuming regarding the increase in teacher salaries. FSGI said there was no concrete change in the welfare of teachers in the current government, even calling it a "strengthen increase".

The Secretary General of FSGI, Heru Purnowo, emphasized that raising the teacher's salary significantly as promised during the 2024 presidential election campaign is difficult to realize due to budget constraints.

"Our state budget has been minus because of the free nutritious food policy of Rp. 10,000/students/day. This policy clearly erodes the budget," said Heru in his statement, Monday, December 2.

President Prabowo Subianto's speech at the commemoration of National Teacher's Day at the end of last November had triggered euphoria among teachers. Many teachers thought there would be a fantastic increase in allowances, such as non-ASN teachers who hoped their professional allowances would increase to Rp2 million.

"However, in reality there is only a small adjustment, from Rp. 1.5 million to Rp. 2 million for teachers who have received an Inpassing Decree," said Heru.

Meanwhile, ASN teachers did not experience any significant changes. The Teacher Professional Allowance (TPG), which has existed since 2008, remains at one basic salary, without additional new welfare.

"There is no additional new salary. This is just misinformation that makes ASN teachers feel there is a change," added Heru.

FSGI highlighted the big impact of this misinformation. Teachers feel disappointed because of the high expectations. FSGI asked the government to immediately provide official clarification regarding the policy of increasing teacher salaries to straighten out perceptions.

In addition, Heru emphasized the importance of improving welfare for honorary teachers. "We support the existence of a teacher's minimum wage that applies to regional minimum wages for workers, rather than temporary assistance such as BLT," said Heru.

FSGI asks this regulation to be harmonized with cross-ministerial rules such as the Ministry of Religion, Ministry of Home Affairs, and Menpan-RB so as not to collide. In addition, it is necessary to consider the impact on honorary teachers in private schools.

The plan to replace the workload of 24 lesson hours (JP) with competency training needs to be regulated in clear regulations. Until now, the validation of 24 JP still depends on the Dapodik system, not Permendikbud, which often causes problems in the field.

The teacher's performance management proposal is only once a year without many document uploads receiving support. However, FSGI asked that this rule be applied strictly from the center to the regions so as not to overlap with manual administrative habits.

FSGI hopes that the government will be more serious in improving teacher welfare in a sustainable manner and overcoming burdensome administrative problems.

"We urge transparency and clarity of regulations to ensure campaign promises can be realized, not just a discourse," concluded Heru.