76, Wondama West Papua Lack Of 313 Teachers From Elementary To Junior High School

Illustration. Teaching and learning activities at SD in Teluk Wondama Regency, West Papua. (ANTARA-HO-Zack Tonu B)

WEST PAPUA - Teluk Wondama Regency in West Papua lacks 313 teachers to fill the void in the scope of elementary and junior high school education.

Head of the Wondama Bay Education, Youth and Sports Office (DPPOK), Jonatan Sembiring, said the number of teaching staff shortages did not include the need for teachers at the SMA or SMK level whose management is planned to be returned by the West Papua Provincial Government to districts or cities starting next year.

"This means that all schools in Teluk Wondama Regency are on average short of three to four teachers from established standards," Sembiring said in West Papua, quoted from Antara, Friday, November 11.

Sembiring emphasized that the Wondama Bay Regency Government did not remain silent or let the condition continue.

There are several alternatives that have been made to be able to overcome the problem of teacher shortages in a relatively fast time, one of which is bringing in teachers from outside the region.

However, learning from previous experience, it also turned out that he could not solve the problem.

Sembiring explained that the Wondama Bay Regency Government in the previous government period had brought in teachers from a number of areas outside Papua, including those from Brebes, Central Java and Masohi in Maluku Province.

Unfortunately, teachers from outside the area did not last long in Wondama.

They chose to return to their place of origin after being officially appointed as civil servants.

Some of them have even received certifications which are entirely financed by the Teluk Wondama Regency APBD.

"Because they only came to get a NIP and take care of certification and after that they returned to their hometowns so that this teacher shortage is still happening today," said Sembiring.

Learning from this experience, according to him, the current policy taken by the Wondama Bay Regency Government is to cooperate with one of the universities in West Papua to send Wondama's sons who are ready to become teachers.

The university in question, namely Muhamadiyah University (Unimuda) Sorong, where as many as 400 students from Teluk Wondama are currently studying to become teachers.

The cooperation spent a large number of regional budgets, reaching more than Rp28 billion.

"The goal is to prepare human resources in Wondama Bay, Wondama's sons to fill the current shortage of teachers. So the local government does not remain silent. Even though the policy is expensive, the local government must do it to overcome the problem of teacher shortages," said the former head of SMAN 01 Wondama.

In addition to the problem of teacher shortages, other things that are quite disturbing efforts to improve the quality of education in Wondama Bay, namely the availability of inadequate educational infrastructure (sarpras), aka still very limited.