House speaker asks government to improve auxiliary teacher's status

Bantul (ANTARA News) - House of Representatives (DPR) Speaker Agung Laksono has asked the government to pay serious attention to the uncertain status of thousands of auxiliary teachers who had for years dedicated themselves to education in Indonesia with extremely low pay.

"The DPR urges the government to pay serious attention to the status and welfare of auxiliary teachers," Agung said in a dialog with hundreds of auxiliary teachers from Yogyakarta here on Wednesday.

Agung said the role of auxiliary teachers and private schools was of great importance to the education sector in the country but they continued to work and operate with an uncerain status.

"Therefore, we have asked the government to find the best possible solution to the problem of the status and welfare of auxiliary teachers," Agung said.

He said the DPR had also encouraged the government to raise the education budget to overcome the problem affecting auxiliary teachers.

The government had allocated 9.1 percent of the 2006 State Budget for education and would increase the figure to 10.3 percent in next year`s state budget.

The figures, however, were still far below the 20 percent called for in the 1945 Constitution. (*)