An Ambiguous Program in Resolving Teacher’s Competences Problems In Indonesia

Teacher competences are being the main focus of the Indonesian government especially education ministry in the recent years. The government thinks that teacher in Indonesia has very low competences, at least based on the evidence of the teacher competences examination (UKG) and the output of education in Indonesia. Based on the UKG reports, most of teachers have very low score, below 50 in the average (scale 0-100). This fact made the government think the way to resolve this big problem.

Some researchers have conducted the research in order to know what the problems that make teachers have low competences. Some of them say that salary is the main problem, so increasing salary is the best way. They posit that many teachers don’t focus on teaching and educating because they have side job. Some of them work as seller, teacher private course, even as “ojek” a public motorcycle driver and motorcycle mechanic.

Based on the results of the researches, government launches some programs that can increase teacher welfare. One of the programs is teacher certification. In this program, teacher can have double salary. In the first year of the implementation, teachers that want to get this certification must submit some portfolios. Based on that documents government asses it and teachers who pass the minimum score will get certificate as professional teacher and will get double salary. Today, this program has stopped and replaced with Teacher Professional Education (Pendidikan Profesi Guru-PPG).

PPG is the current program that held by government to improve teacher competences. This program temporary for who one that already been a teacher and teacher candidate that has finished the SM3T program (bachelor teaches in very poor, rural, and close to county border areas). PPG is like an additional lecture for teacher in a year. The half of year teacher will get material in class and then will practice in school for one semester.

The main focus is the next step of this program. All of person who wants to be a teacher must have certificate trough this program even tough from education faculty or not. This is an absurd thing. University students from faculty of education have 4 years to prepare as a teacher when they graduate from university. This term can be assumed that in material and psychological they are ready. But, government says that the output of education faculty is not good enough, so all of them have to follow the PPG program. PPG is different from Akta IV program that held in several years ago. In that program, students from education faculty is eligible to teaching directly, Akta IV is only for students from other faculties who want to be teacher.

Starting in 2014, students from education faculty are not allowed to teaching if they don’t have teacher certificate that only be obtained from PPG. This regulation evokes a question “what is the function of education faculty if the graduate can’t be a teacher directly? They have degree as education bachelor (S.Pd-Sarjana Pendidikan) but they are not eligible for teaching.

Furthermore, students from other faculties (not education degree) are eligible to enter PPG program and after graduate they can be called as “professional teacher”. This is unjust, why? Students from education faculty frequently are rejected when they apply job apart a teacher. Government and some of companies argue that students from education faculty don’t have full material as well as other faculties. For example, students form education faculty majoring in accounting education ‘pendidikan akuntansi” is less knowledge than students from economics faculty majoring in accounting “akuntansi”.

Therefore, this program has to be evaluated to ensure the education faculty continuity. This program has good objective but it has negative impact to education faculty even the implementer of PPG is education faculty. It is possible that education faculty will don’t have students in its entire major. It will be an implementer of PPG only because all of person who want to be a teacher have to follow that program even from education faculty or not. 

By: Muhammad Fahmi Johan Syah