Malang, E Java (ANTARA News) - Education and Culture Minister Muhadjir Effendi said a lack of teachers in several parts of Indonesia posed a serious problem to the national education.

"Every year tens of thousands of teachers are retired so a lack of teachers has increasingly become more serious," he said here on Sunday.

Although their exact number has not been approved, the government plans to recruit some 100 thousand teachers every year to cover the shortage of teachers, he said.

The shortage of teachers could be dealt with at least in seven years` time, he said.

The Education and Culture Ministry is paying special attention to the development of the educational sector in outermost, frontline and disadvantaged regions in the country in accordance with President Joko Widodo`s directives, he said.

To catch up with other countries, the minister called on all stakeholders to understand the importance of upgrading educational standards by calibrating the capability of teachers and improving the assessment of students` learning.

"The standard we use to teach our students are below that of other countries which have good system in PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment). We must improve our standards, regardless of whether we like it or not," he said.

Reported by Endang Sukarelawati
(T.SYS/B/S012/F001)

Reporter: antara
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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