EN
ID
ACTNews, SOUTH
JAKARTA – The Covid-19 pandemic has killed many teachers. This bitter truth
was told by the Chairperson of the Executive Board of the Indonesian Teachers
Association (PB PGRI) Unifah Rosyidi in the Webinar titled
"Looking for the Best for Indonesian Education in the Era of Pandemic:
Face to Face or Staying Online?" in June 2021.
Unifah said that
many teachers had made their sacrifice to keep doing face-to-face learning
because not all regions in Indonesia have adequate infrastructure for online
learning.
"One thing
that the media never tells us is that many teachers have passed away during the
pandemic because they have to keep teaching," said Unifah in the webinar.
They must visit
the students’ houses to teach, through difficult terrain, dense jungle, and
even the waves of the sea.
“Actually, what we
call online distant learning is only ready in big cities. In remote areas of
the country, there is no distant learning. They’ll do everything to teach the
students, including visiting their houses and sailing through the strong waves
of the sea,” she added.
In addition to
teaching, Unifah continued, many teachers still have to come to their schools
to sign in while they are unvaccinated. "There are a lot of reports about
this," she said.
Teacher’s welfare deteriorates
Due to the high
risk of contracting COVID-19, many schools are not open for learning
activities, and this has affected the income of honorary teachers in Indonesia.
In Morawa
of Sigi Regency, for instance, the payment of honorary teacher salaries is
often postponed indefinitely during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A similar condition
is experienced by an honorary teacher in Bogor.
Nurifatul has to borrow money from a neighboring shop to eat because the
payment of her salaries as a teacher is irregular.
Teachers’ side
businesses have also been impacted by the global outbreak. An honorary teacher
in Subang, Badriah,
had her shop closed because her business turned quiet. For additional income,
she opens a private tutoring service for students. []
