Poor Rapport in Teacher Management
During the commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of the Indonesian Teachers Association on 28 November 2020, President Jokowi stated that the government plans to recruit more state-employed teachers using contracts.
During the commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of the Indonesian Teachers Association on 28 November 2020, President Jokowi stated that the government plans to recruit more state-employed teachers using contracts.
The President has issued Presidential Decree No. 98/2020 concerning teachers, who are government employees with a work contract (P3K) who shall earn a salary equal to that of a civil servant. The recruitment of new teachers will begin in 2021 and the number will reach one million. The government has also allocated Rp 3.6 trillion in wage subsidy assistance (BSU) in 2020 for around two million teachers and education personnel with non-PNS status within the Education and Culture Ministry.
This policy should be appreciated by all sides, especially the non-permanent teachers who have been very instrumental in helping our children\'s education.
Needs and teacher-student ratio This new policy can be examined from the following perspectives. First, the data shows that the number of primary and secondary education teachers has reached four million, serving around 50 million students (Education and Culture Ministry, 20/11/2020). This means each teacher only teaches 12-13 students. Meanwhile, the international ratio standard is 20-21 students per teacher.
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In Japan, the ratio is 27-28 students per teacher and South Korea, which is one of the countries with best education in the world, is averagely 34.7 or 34-35 students per teacher (UNESCO, 2017). If we use an international standard, Indonesia has an excess of about 1.6 million teachers.
If only the state able to regulate the placement and distribution of ASN teachers equally well throughout the country, then there is no need for new teacher recruits.
Referring to data from Education and Culture Minister Nadiem Makarim, who cited Dapodik data (2020) that the number of teachers with civil servant status (ASN) currently available in state schools is only 60 percent of the total need, meaning that there are 2.4 million ASN teachers for 50 million students, thus the ratio is very ideal. It is equal to the international standard of 20-21 students per teacher. If only the state able to regulate the placement and distribution of ASN teachers equally well throughout the country, then there is no need for new teacher recruits.
Second, data shows that the mandatory 20 percent of state budget (APBN) and regional budget (APBD) allocated for education as mandated by the Constitution is in fact almost all spent not on improving the quality of education. The World Bank reports that 86 percent of the APBN and APBD funds for education are spent for the salaries and welfare of teachers and education personnel, even in 32 regencies/cities the amount reaches 90 percent, not for improving the quality of learning.
This amount is much higher than Vietnam, which allocates only 42 percent of the budget for welfare, Finland 55 percent and the US 62 percent (Revealing How Indonesia\'s Subregional Government Spend their Money on Education, 2020, p. 68).
Other data, the World Bank in its publication, Spending More or Spending Better: Improving Education Financing in Indonesia (2013), shows that teachers who have received more allowance for having been certified and those who have not got certification show relatively similar achievement.
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The teacher certification program run by the Education and Culture Ministry, which has spent hundreds of trillions of rupiah in funds, has apparently not had an impact on improving the quality of national education (p. 68). The conclusion from the World Bank was obtained after doing research since 2009 at 240 state elementary schools and 120 junior high schools throughout Indonesia, involving 39,531 students. As a result, there is no effect of the teacher certification program on student learning outcomes, both at SD and SMP.
If the state is present to manage the education budget (20 percent APBN and APBD) properly, of course there will be no wasting of hundreds of trillions of rupiah every year without benefiting the improvement of the quality of national education. The only change was the decrease in the number of teachers who worked double jobs, from 33 percent before the certification to 7 percent after the certification (p. 73).
State not yet present
The two paradoxes (shortage vs excess of teachers and increase in budgets vs decline in quality) are likely to persist if the root causes are left untouched. First, it seems that the state is not yet present to regulate and supervise educational institutions for the education personnel (LPTK) to produce teachers and other agencies that produce teachers. The data shows that currently there are 423 LPTKs, consisting of 12 former Institute of Teachers Training (IKIP), 34 Teaching Studies (FKIP) at universities and 377 private-run LPTKs (Kemristekdikti, 2019).
Of that number, only 18 have got an A accreditation and 81 have received a B accreditation. The rest are not accredited or have poor accreditation. Private-run LPTKs are seen to continuously recruit and pass student teacher candidates without control, so that each year there are an excess of around 200,000 new teacher candidates, most of whom are recruited as non-permanent teachers in private schools.
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If quality is to be a priority, the recruitment of prospective teachers with civil-servant status should be prioritized from the 18 LPTK with the A accreditation. In the future, all LPTKs that are not quality-oriented need to be completely reorganized. It seems that Indonesia needs to learn from other countries how to manage its LPTKs. Singapore, Finland and South Korea, for example, recruit only the best 30 percent, 20 percent and 10 percent of high school graduates to be prepared to work as teachers.
Second, it seems that the state has not been present to properly regulate the appointment and placement of teachers that have been produced by the LPTKs. It is not surprising if there are schools or regions that have a shortage of teachers, but in other places there are excess of teachers. If 2 percent of teachers retire each year, only about 80,000 LPTK graduates are required each year. This need can be adequately fulfilled by 18 LPTKs with the A accreditation.
In the New Order era, the appointment and placement of teachers was well regulated. During the New Order era, around 150,000 schools were built. In 1973-1978, 61,000 elementary schools were built. In 1975, for example, when additional 10,000 new Inpres primary schools were to be built, the location and capacity of each school was well planned.
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The location and capacity of the school was determined by the regent/mayor after consulting with the head of the Basic and Extraordinary Education Office (PDPLB) by taking into account the rural areas where many children around the age of seven who have not got a place at the existing primary schools; urban areas whose population has low income and transmigration projects or border areas that require primary schools (Article 4 of Inpres No 6/1975).
With such scheme, it can avoid the possibility of excess or lack of teachers in one school.
Each elementary school being built was to serve 1,000 children in their place of birth. Furthermore, each SD would get nine ASN teachers (six teachers to handle 6 classrooms, one sports teacher, one religion teacher and one school principal) and one administrative staffer. With such scheme, it can avoid the possibility of excess or lack of teachers in one school.
Third, it seems that the state has not been present to properly regulate the development and protection of teacher careers. In terms of teacher career promotion, the number of female teachers, for example, is estimated to be 53 percent of all primary school teachers, 43 percent in junior high schools and 34 percent in senior high schools, but only 27 percent were promoted to school principals in primary schools, 11 percent in junior high schools and 10 percent in senior high school (Katarina, 2002). This data appears to be unchanged or, in fact, it is getting worse. As an illustration, out of 1.4 million primary school teachers, 70 percent are female, but the total female school principal is less than 20 percent (Inovasi, 2/5/2020).
With the adoption of education decentralization policy, teachers and school principals have also been dragged into local politics by the local regent/mayor. If they are not involved in the process of winning the elected regent/mayor, they can be transferred or replaced. On the other hand, if they are considered to be instrumental in the political contestation process, they can be promoted to a position that is not necessarily related to their career as a teacher, for example to become a district head or village head, and so on. As a result, schools were never stable from shocks from the interests of local politics.
Also read: The Role of Teachers in Advancing Indonesia
Last, I hope that in the future the state will truly exist to play a role in the education of the nation by managing education properly, freeing education from the shackles of narrow political romanticism, and managing its budget in a dignified manner so that it can improve its quality for the sake of the future of our children and the safety of our future together.
Hafid Abbas, Professor in Education at Jakarta State University (UNJ) and Visiting Professor at the Tsai Lecture Series, Harvard University 2006