Suprising Facts About Teacher in Indonesia

Teachers are educators as well as an important aspect of education.As the spearhead of education for the younger generation, but on the other hand, their welfare is still worrying.The issues of low teacher salaries in Indonesia are no longer a secret because so many teachers earn less than their sacrifices.Although teachers are unsung heroes, at least their welfare should be considered.Teachers are ordinary people, they work to earn money to meet their own needs.

Based on Government Regulation (PP) Number 5 of 2005, the salary of civil servant teachers in Indonesia ranges from Rp.1,658,700 to Rp.6,373,200 per month depending on the class.Although it is quite fulfilling, the salary is significantly different from neighbouring countries such as Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.This will be a special concern for the government in the future.No wonder why many teachers complain about these conditions.

According to the Institute for Demographic and Poverty Studies (IDEAS) conducted a survey in May 2024, 43 per cent of honorary teachers earn less than 2 million per month and 13 per cent earn less than 500 thousand per month.This was obtained from 403 respondents in 25 provinces and 291 Java Island and outside Java 112 people.And of course it is still far from enough, especially the basic needs from year to year are increasing.In the end it will affect the quality of education in Indonesia.

One of the reasons why our country does not yet have a good quality of education is because of the low income of educators.This can have an impact on the motivation of teachers because they often feel unappreciated and not worth what they have done.Finally, it continues to the teaching methods that become less effective because they tend to feel less motivated and fade a sense of professionalism.But on the other hand, the interest for education majors is still relatively high and because of this it is an important task of the government to find solutions so that those interested in education majors do not feel sorry for their choice with income that is still not fulfilled.

According to a survey by the Institute for Demographic and Poverty Studies (IDEAS), 39.1% of teachers work as tutors, almost 29.3% earn money while trading and even 3.1% of teachers work as online motorcycle taxi drivers.This is very sad for our educators who should focus on educating the younger generation instead they have to look for additional income.In the end, this will affect the quality of education in Indonesia which should be getting better every year and depends on government policies.

Highlighting the education policy in Indonesia every 5 years of government, the policy changes every time. The period of government, especially the president, is 5 years and 10 years for two periods. And of course, changing governments have new policies so that the education system is always changing. However, the policy on the welfare of teachers' salaries should have a permanent policy that is beneficial when there is a change in the period of government. Do not let the policy changes from the past and present governments be inversely proportional or not in line, which is detrimental to our own teachers.

The problem arises in the equality of salaries in various regions. It depends on the UMP and UMK in each region. Java Island and Sulawesi Island certainly have different UMPs as well as Sumatra Island. This is still a challenge for us or especially for the government on how UMP can prosper and of course the ideal government policy or regulation so that it can be sufficient for teachers in Indonesia.

 The government should continue to pay attention to the welfare of teachers in Indonesia.There must be significant positive progress on this matter.As teachers are important educators for the next generation.All aspects including the needs of a teacher will determine the results of the quality of education in Indonesia and added with several other important aspects.As an unsung hero.