‘Gugu' (Belief)
Any story I Made Layah Sing Metulang (I Made Powerful Words) tells you will remind you that being a teacher in Indonesia is not a happy thing.
During the New Order regime, teachers were not really allowed to teach certain subjects freely.
“We were not allowed to discuss about Soekarno, and we had to say good things about Soeharto instead. There was no place for discussion on PKI (Indonesian Communist Party), and all we had to say was that Indonesia was the best,” says Made.
During that era, teachers were not independent, nor creative, nor able to teach their student properly.
“Besides, being a teacher, one doesn’t get paid well. That’s why we never think of having any extra education to improve our qualification. We can’t even afford good meals.”
The drinking club members just nod. Many times they listen to Made’s complaints about teachers’ hard lives, they think.
As a teacher, all he can do is complain, everything is never right for him. However, it is strange that he remains a teacher. Ideally, if he is not happy being a teacher, he should quit. He should return the letter of assignment and become a farmer. But he doesn’t make this choice. It seems, no matter how small a teacher’s salary is, it is still much better than being a farmer.
“Because of very low salary, a lot of teachers seek side income,” Made adds.
The most easy side job for a teacher is giving extra lessons and being an agent of a book printing company. That’s the reason Made asks his students to join extra lessons for daily test, mid-term test and national final examination as well that he holds at his house. To get some fees, Made asks his students to buy new books every new school year. Made will give different way of treating to the student who doesn’t obey his request.
Since he gives extra lessons, he has earned more and more money. And his students get much better grade marks because Made gives them the answers in advance before the test. He does it because he makes good money from giving extra lessons.
However, Made keeps complaining about teachers’ salaries and hard life, and no proper rewards at all.
“Well now the government has given teachers incentive which amount similar to their main salaries. You are not poor anymore and you don’t need to do ‘moonlight’ but concentrate on teaching our students instead, says Ni Luh Makin Digosok Makin Sip (The More You Rub The More She loves it).
Made shakes his head.
No….no… It is not like what you think. In fact, it is getting more difficult. Today, we teachers should attend seminars here and there for ‘certification’ purpose in order to improve our rank. So I spend most of my time doing this; I don’t even have enough time for the school and my students. That’s why I keep giving extra lessons to my students so I still have time for them,” says Made.
They are all laughing. They know that it is all because of money Made doing that.
“You know, today our students are familiar with internet, so the teachers should have their own laptop and subscribe an internet provider to meet the students’ need. But it all costs money.
The point is that no matter how the situation is, according to Made’s point of view, teachers are still considered poor as they can not afford laptops, let alone cars.
So if we follow Made’s point of view, it is a raise that they seek, both as main income and side income.
