Teachers fail to make the grade
(Source: The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Saturday, 05 April 2008)

Of 200.450 teachers who took part in a certification program in 2007, only 70 percent, or 147.217 teachers across the country, were eligible for teacher certificates, says a report from the National Education Ministry.

While provinces like Bengkulu, North Maluku, Gorontalo, and Riau Islands topped the ranks with teacher passing grades of around 80 percent, other provinces, including Jambi, West Kalimantan, Papua, West Papua, and East Kalimantan, are at the bottom, with only about half of the teachers from those areas successfully earning certificates.

"The problem is a lack of information. Many teachers, particularly in the poor-performing areas, are not well informed of the teacher certification program," Bedjo Sujanto, rector of the Jakarta State University (UNJ) and an executor of the program, said Friday.

He told The Jakarta Post the lack of information had resulted in many teachers failing to complere their fortfolios, which are required to earn certificates.

"The time limit to complete the portfolios was too short, teachers were not given sufficient time to collect needed documents," said Bedjo, adding that some teachers were only given two days to complete their portfolios after being informed that they were eligible for the certification process.

The portfolio refers to a set of documents, including academic qualifications, teaching experience references and information on participation in related activities, including training programs and workshops.

Each document carries a certain amount of points – a bachelor's degree scores 150 points, while a three day seminar is worth 80 points.

To earn a certificate, a teacher must have a minimum total score of 850 points.

The ministry's director general for the improvement of teachers' and educators' quality, Baedhowi, said he was waiting for the clarification of the results from the ministry's inspectorate general so he could learn what had lead so many teachers to fail.

Baedhowi said the different scores reported by the provinces were good indications of teacher quality in those areas.

In an attempt to improve the quality and welfare of teachers across the country, the government launched the teacher certification program last year, which promised teachers holding bachelors degrees double base payments if they passed the certification process.

The government plans to certify all of the country's 2,5 million teachers holding bachelor's degree or four year associate degrees by 2015.

As a follow op to the initial 2007 program, which targeted the certification of 5 percent of teachers and was allocated a fund of some Rp 400 billion (US$ 43.5 million), the government aims to certify 20 percent by the end of 2008 and 40 percent by the end of 2009.

For the country's 1.75 million teachers without a bachelor's degree, the government is conducting a teacher qualification program, which proposes that all such teachers be sent to earn a bachelor's or four-year associate's degree by 2015.

The government has also implemented certification and qualification programs for university lecturers, aiming to certify 300.000 lecturers and send 150.000 others to postgraduate school by 2015.