Speak up for Education in Indonesia

I was involved in education field started July 2009 and I got surprised with how teaching learning is taken. There are a lot of things beyond my imagination.
The first thing is about teacher quality.
I have found out that there are some teachers are not qualified enough at their field. I assume that it happened because of the rules of CPNS (Government officers) recruitment.

In Indonesia government recruitment is based on a test under government supervision. The test covers: bahasa Indonesia,math, scholastic and other terms I can't remember. These tests really don’t show people ability in their field. Moreover there is no test that specifies to the field the applicants chosen. There is no English test for English applicants for instance. This circumstance emerges a question how government knows that the accepted applicants are able to teach. The GPA attached in application letter is not a guaranty that the score there reflects applicants’ ability. But, this is Indonesia!

Another way of government recruitment is by recruiting some teachers who have served voluntarily in some schools. From humanism side it is understandable. But, have they tested before teaching there? Many schools hire voluntarily teacher through nepotism, power of acquaintance or people who we know well in institutions takes place.
Everything is getting worse when sometimes we heard that bribing exists in recruitment test. The rumor says that 100-120 million rupiahs are spent to get a position in governmental office. What can we say?
The phenomena above are a clear description of Education in Indonesia.

I’m glad that I was recruited at SMPN 1 Jetis, a promising school with an RSBI level. Being PNS is my dream but I can not do a thing if CPNS test is still like what I explained above. Through what I write, I do hope that this contributes to the changing of CPNS recruitment rules. Let someone be tested based on his or her field, then I’ll be optimistic when applying.

RSBI is just another problem. RSBI is an extraordinary school. It can’t be put the same as other schools. It needs more responsible, talent and ideas. The goals of this kind of schools need a total teacher's contribution including time and energy. But I don’t notice that government appreciate RSBI teachers work since no difference in payment from the non-RSBI teachers to RSBI one. And this case is just another hard work for the voluntarily teachers who are not financially ready yet.

Javanese says: Jer Basuki mawa bea, it is indeed right. Appreciation through award, cash or whatever will stimulate teachers to be more creative and enthusiastic to always serve themselves in education world.

VIVA TEACHERS in INDONESIA!