Special Teacher Recruitment for Public Schools Opening Soon

JAKARTA, KOMPAS - Recruitment of teachers to teach at community schools will soon be opened. They will be recruited under an individual work contract scheme specifically to teach children from poor and extremely poor families full-time at community schools.

The Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Abdul Mu'ti, outlined several criteria for teachers who will be contracted to teach at community schools. These criteria include not being bound as civil servants and being specifically assigned to community schools.

In terms of qualifications, candidates for public school teachers must possess educator certification, meaning they have graduated from a teacher professional education program. However, those who are accepted will later teach more than one subject.

"First, he must be fully dedicated there; this must be conveyed at the beginning so it can be understood," said Mu'ti at the Office of the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, Jakarta, Wednesday (9/4/2025).

Moreover, the head of the community school may hold positions at more than a few community schools. This depends on the needs and the number of students at those schools. Thus, it is possible for one location to have only one headmaster overseeing three levels of education: elementary, junior high, and senior high school.

"The names of teachers who will become educators will be submitted on April 24, 2025," he said.

Furthermore, the curriculum to be implemented in community schools will refer to the academic abilities of each prospective student. Therefore, these new teachers will conduct assessments of each prospective student before mapping out a teaching model that suits each of them.

The new student admission system in public schools will be based on the National Socio-Economic Single Data (DTSEN) integrated with the Basic Education Data (Dapodik). Prospective students who will be admitted to public schools are children from decile 1 and decile 2 groups in the DTSEN.

Decile 1 refers to the group of households that fall within the lowest 10 percent in terms of welfare levels nationally, while decile 2 refers to the group of households ranked 11–20 percent lowest in terms of welfare levels nationally.

"If those who are in decile 1 and decile 2 are not recorded in Dapodik, it means they are children who have dropped out of school. So it will not take students from those who are already in school," he said.

The admission of students to public schools will also be different from regular schools. Prospective students can enter at any time, regardless of the school year, with adjusted learning materials.

"Multi entry should not be interpreted as being able to enter and exit at any time. However, you can enter at any time and achieve learning outcomes at any time. Not all students have to be the same, what is important is that they can learn with the character formed in the dormitory," said Mu'ti.

Minister of Social Affairs, Saifullah Yusuf added, the process of accepting teachers and students in the new public schools carried out in this government is guided by Presidential Instruction (Inpres) Number 8 of 2025 concerning Optimization of Extreme Poverty Alleviation. These public schools will start in the middle of this year or the beginning of the new school year 2025/2026.

"The Presidential Instruction has been issued to be our working guideline, in it the duties of the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education and the Ministry of Social Affairs are clear, we just have to carry them out," said Saifullah.

According to him, around 53 places in various regions are ready to organize the people's school program. The places were taken from several centers of the Ministry of Social Affairs to the construction of new school buildings by the Ministry of Public Works and Regional Governments.

The Ministry of Social Affairs is currently exploring cooperation with around 200 regional heads who have submitted building and land assets for public schools. This agreement is scheduled to be reached in late April or early May 2025 in front of the President.

"53 are ready to be spread across Jakarta, Bekasi, Temanggung, Magelang, Bandung, several districts in East Java, as well as areas in Kalimantan, Aceh, and Papua. The target is for every district and city in Indonesia to have one People's School," he said.

The public school building does not only consist of classrooms, but also includes dormitories that will accommodate students. With the concept of a boarding school, public schools are expected to be able to shape the character of students who come from poor families to change their fate through education.

"Therefore, we must have a commitment with the parents to be willing to let their children go to the people's school dormitory because this is important for their future. Basically, we invite those who are willing and the school is also not far from their home, if the parents miss them, they can come and visit," said Saifullah.

Dharmasraya Regent, West Sumatra, Annisa Suci Ramadhani who came to the Ministry of Social Affairs Office also stated her region's readiness to build a public school by preparing a minimum of 5 hectares of land. She hopes that at least two public schools can be built in her area.

Because, in Dharmasraya Regency, said Annisa, there are approximately 4,000 poor families. This places Dharmasraya as the area with the second poorest population in West Sumatra.

"I proposed two public schools because one could follow the Ministry of Social Affairs program from elementary school to high school. However, I want one public school to be a high school because the dropout rate is highest in high school," said Annisa.