We hope they would not be left behind by the ministry that must defend the teachers' rights
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology should promptly accommodate some 193 thousand teachers whose employment contract status had yet to be clarified, a House of Representatives legislator stated.

"Some 193 thousand teachers have test scores that surpassed the passing grade of the contract government employee examination, yet (until now), they receive no teaching assignments," the House' Commission X deputy chair, Abdul Fikri Faqih, noted in his statement received here on Saturday.

The legislator spoke of having recorded grievances from teachers that had received no assignment despite having passed the employment examination.

The unclear employment status makes those teachers, paid only on an honorarium basis, live without a stable income, and some of them are even compelled to borrow money from neighbors and relatives to fulfil their daily needs, he pointed out.

Faqih then read aloud a grievance letter written by a teacher, informing that they are now selling their children's toys after waiting for their teaching assignment for several months.

"That is one true story of our teachers that have, since 2015, been serving (our children). We have no information about the recruitment method, but (they are) employed to fill the teaching vacancies and paid on honorarium basis," Faqih remarked.

Speaking on the same lines as Faqih, Commission X legislator Ratih Megasari Singkarru also raised concerns over teachers that had passed the employment test but had not yet received any assignment.

"We hope they would not be left behind by the ministry that must defend the teachers' rights," she affirmed.

Singkarru also voiced grievances from employees working for the administration and security departments of the school, as employees paid on honorarium basis will be phased out by 2023.

Considering the urgent need to respond to the teachers' grievances, the two legislators urged the ministry to promptly take action for their welfare.

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Translator: M Zulfikar, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Sri Haryati
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