Teachers in Remote Areas Give All

KOMPAS/IRMA TAMBUNAN

Teaching and learning activities for the children of the Batin Sembilan tribe in Hutan Harapan, during teaching and learning activities in the Kelompang area, Batanghari Regency, Jambi, Friday (26/11/2021). Adaptive education continues to be developed to reach children who live in rural areas. Teachers take an important role in it.

There are endless stories of the struggles endured by teachers in disadvantaged, frontier and outermost (3T) areas. It is typical for teachers to bear such burdens amid the general lack of facilities in remote areas.

This has not dampened their spirit for educating the nation’s children in remote areas.

The 4K coverage “Unheard Voices”, presented on Monday and Tuesday (29-30/11/2021), revealed how teachers in remote areas are giving their all to this cause. Amid the myriad limitations, they are doing all they can to overcome these obstacles, be they geographical or academic, so they can continue to teach.

Their battle has become tougher since the pandemic. Not only do they struggle to maintain and revive learning activities, they are also unable to attend education training workshops and seminars to gain promotions. This is because these sessions are being held online during the pandemic, while internet access remains an issue in remote areas.

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> Teachers’ Tips on Breaking Boundaries

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As one teacher, Sartono, wrote in the song “Hymne Guru” (Teachers’ Hymn), teachers in remote areas are beams of light in the dark and true heroes of the nation. Without them, children in remote areas will remain isolated and become increasingly marginalized amid ongoing development.

Teachers in remote areas also reflect the realities of building Indonesia from the outside in, which was part of President Joko Widodo’s nine-point “Nawacita” campaign promise in 2014. Education is essential for building excellent human resources, the resource that will move the nation forward. The nation will not progress at all if many of its children are left behind.

KOMPAS/DOKUMEN ANTO TEGUH SETIAWAN

Anto Teguh Setiawan crosses the river to his teaching place at SMA Negeri 3 Amarasi Timur, Kupang Regency, East Nusa Tenggara, on Saturday (27/11/2021). The area is in the outermost, leading, and underdeveloped categories.

The dedication of teachers in remote areas needs to be balanced with full efforts to provide them with support and assistance. From year to year, the problems and obstacles they face generally remain similar, meaning that there has not been any significant improvement in their conditions, especially for nonformal teachers. Nearly 60 percent of teachers in remote areas are nonformal teachers.

A number of government initiatives, such as the Frontline Teachers Program and the 100 percent increase in the school operational assistance (BOS) funds for disadvantaged and outermost areas, have not yet yielded maximum results. The Frontline Teachers Program, for one, has not run smoothly because several teachers have resigned (Kompas, 22/7/2017). Apart from the issue of mental health support for teachers, minimal welfare support has been provided in these areas.

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Not many teachers are willing to be assigned to areas with such limited facilities. Therefore, they deserve special incentives. It should be appreciated that the Education, Culture, Research and Technology Ministry plans to issue an affirmation policy for teachers in remote areas that include incentives for career advancement and other special incentives or benefits.

However, learning from the Frontline Teachers Program, this policy must be backed by improvements in good governance and educational resource management. In this era of regional autonomy, synergy between central and regional governments is key to problem-solving.

This article was translated by Kesya Adhalia.