Ei-iE

Teachers in Indonesia are celebrating the success of their long legal and political struggle to compel their government to live up to the Constitutional requirement to dedicate 20 percent of the national budget to education. The PGRI, EI’s affiliate, took the case for increasing education funding to the Constitutional Court twice.

Following up on the promise made by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the PGRI Congress in late June, the government will raise teachers and lecturers’ pay by 14 to 15 percent.

Education Minister Bambang Sudibyo announced that the government has proposed an increase in the education budget to 20 percent of 2009 state expenditures, about 225 trillion Indonesian Rupiahs, compared to Rp 155 trillion this year. The government allocated 27 percent of the education budget, or Rp 46 trillion, for teacher salaries next year.

"With the raise, the lowest level civil servant teacher will receive at least Rp 2 million (US$216)," the Education Minister said.

This raise brings the new minimum wage for teachers to nearly double the minimum wage in Jakarta, and the salaries of temporary teachers and researchers will also be raised, although to a lesser extent.

EI supported PGRI in its struggle for better working conditions for teachers and better quality education for children, and reiterates its demand for adequate remuneration for the professional work teachers provide all around the globe.