DENPASAR ~

Bali Governor Made Pastika said that he would send a letter to the Ministry of Administrative Reform and Bureaucratic Reform (Kemenpan RB) to be given a quota for the appointment of Hindu teacher.

“The problem is that the quota is calculated nationwide, while we are minority in national level,” he said on the sidelines of the working visit of the Commission X of the House of Representatives in Denpasar on Wednesday.

Therefore, according to him, the procurement of Hindu teacher in Bali is still low, while Bali has a shortage because many teachers are retiring.

Pastika said that in fact he has delivered it to the Ministry of Religion related to the scarcity of teachers of religion, but there has been no response until now.

On that occasion, the Chairman of the Indonesian Teachers Association (PGRI) Bali Wenten Aryasuda informed the scarcity of Hindu and Balinese Language teacher in its area to members of the committee for education.

He stated that in fact almost every school in Bali is lack of religion and Balinese language teacher. They do not have the exact numbers, but when it is put in average, one teacher for one school then the amount is about 600-700 teachers.

Moreover, in 2013, about 7,000 teachers who are about to retired in the age of 56-60 years old from the total of 51,117 teachers in Bali. Likewise, the religion teacher who was appointed in 1983-1985 by the Ministry of Education, are nearing their retirement age.

“If schools want to hire a teacher, it against the law as the principals are not allowed to do so, while the committee should not be picking up more funds to pay honorary teachers,” he said.

In fact, Wenten said, there are principals who were called by Attorney for paying honorary teachers from the School Operational Assistance (BOS).

A similar sentiment was expressed by the Vice Chairman of the Board of Education Badung I Gusti Ngurah Sutama who pleaded for religion teacher hiring policy because based on the national quota Bali will not get any allocation.