Honorary Teachers' Anxiety Towards the End of 2024 (2024)

English›Honorary Teachers' Anxiety...

Honorary teachers are worried because in December 2024, honorary workers will no longer be allowed to work in government agencies.

The cleansing of honorary teachers incident in Jakarta is believed to be the beginning of the peak of the problem of human resource management in education Indonesia. The policy of eliminating honorary workers in government agencies without being balanced by the speed of appointment to the status of state civil servants will trigger major problems at the end of this year.

Currently, 141 honorary teachers in public schools in Jakarta who were affected by the cleansing decision have returned to teaching at school. However, they are still haunted by concerns because in December 2024 honorary workers will no longer be allowed to work in government.

They are in desperate need of affirmation to be prioritized in the selection of civil servant apparatus (ASN) government employees with employment agreement (PPPK). If they have not been appointed as ASN-PPPK, they are at risk of losing their jobs.

The regulation is stated in the Law Number 20 of 2023 regarding civil servants (ASN). The Ministry of State Apparatus Empowerment and Bureaucratic Reforms (KemenPANRB) mentioned that contract workers who have not been appointed as permanent civil servants (PPPK) will still be divided into full-time and part-time.

"Now honorary teachers are anxious, there is a lot of issue about cleansing, almost honorary teachers in all regions are afraid of being affected," said Mamol Abdul Faqih, Chair of the National Honorary Alliance, Monday (29/7/2024).

Support for teachers must be proven not only through words, but also through the policies produced.

The life of honorary teachers is still the same as before, far from prosperity. Mamol believes that these teachers should not be called part-time workers and it is not appropriate for them to only become PPPK, they should still be regarded as civil servants.

The hope is that the government can allocate the State Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBN) and Regional Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBD) towards fulfilling the needs of teachers, so that honorary teachers can prosper in the future.

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology noted that from 2021 to 2023, 774,999 teachers have been appointed as PPPK. Then, 419,146 teacher positions will be opened in the 2024 PPPK selection. This number is to achieve the target of 1 million teachers becoming PPPK which was initiated since 2020.

Implementation of selection

The selection process has become a spotlight for public honorary teachers because many private honorary teachers have participated in the PPPK selection. As a result, public honorary teachers are displaced by private teachers who have met the P1 threshold in the 2021 PPPK teacher selection to fill teaching positions in public schools. As a consequence, honorary teachers end up teaching subjects outside of their linear field.

So far, the selection process has heavily depended on the central government and regional government's budget preference. North Lampung Regency, for example, has never opened a PPPK formation for teachers due to budget constraints.

Government commitment is needed to ensure the arrangement of civil servants can reach its target by the end of this year and in the future, there will no longer be teachers screaming over welfare issues.

"The support for teachers should not only be proven through words, but also through the policies produced," said Chairman of the Association of Professional and Similar Expertise (APKS) of the Indonesian Teachers' Association (PGRI) Sumardiansyah.

Also read: Principal Refuses to be Blamed in the Polemic of "Cleansing" Honorary Teachers

Acting Chairman of the National PGRI Management Basyarudin Thayib added that good management of honorary teachers is an important step in improving the quality of education in Indonesia.

By ensuring welfare, professional development, job security, and legal certainty for honorary teachers through one portal, it is hoped that they can contribute more optimally to the nation's intellectual enlightenment.

Therefore, all parties, including the government, schools, and the community, must work together to create a fair and sustainable governance system for honorary teachers, starting from recruitment, coaching, protection, and teacher careers as part of a political commitment or political will.

In this way, the problem of teacher cleansing will not occur and will again harm the dignity and honor of teachers as a profession and slowly eliminate teacher casteism.

"Regardless of which aspect of education that needs improvement, it must always start with the teacher because they are the epicenter for the success of quality education improvement efforts, without neglecting issues related to infrastructure, curriculum, and so on," said Basyarudin.

Meanwhile, during a meeting between Minister of PANRB Abdullah Azwar Anas and Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Nadiem Makarim at the Ministry of PANRB in Jakarta on July 15, 2024, it was mentioned that the direction of the 2024 ASN procurement policy will focus on meeting the needs of teacher personnel.

The Ministry of PANRB has issued permission for the formation of 40,541 candidate civil servants in the Ministry of Education and Culture and Research Technology. The formation consists of 15,462 CPNS and 25,079 PPPK, which have been approved.

Also read: Hundreds of Honorary Teachers in Jakarta Suddenly Fired Simultaneously

However, the government is highlighting the distribution of civil servants who only reside in big islands and urban areas, especially Java Island. Therefore, Azwar Anas promised that civil servants who dedicate themselves to remote, underdeveloped, and frontier areas (known as 3T regions) will receive accelerated career advancement and greater appreciation.

"Considering this issue, we together need to find common ground so that lecturers and teachers throughout the country can have a better situation. Their careers can be improved and their performance can be more optimal," said Azwar Anas.