Increasing Salary of Teachers and Student/School performance in Indonesia

[pantaiema]

There have been a few discussions on this topic in the past, but to avoid derailing someone else’s thread, it’s better to start a dedicated one. This way, we can focus specifically on whether raising teachers’ salaries in Indonesia could effectively improve student and school performance. Will increasing teacher's salary improve student and school performance?

There is a good article, small research about this, with good cross referencing.

What do we learn from increasing teacher salaries in Indonesia? More than the students did.

Money matters in education. Recent evidence from the United States shows that increased education spending results in more completed years of schooling and higher subsequent wages for adults. Spending cuts during the Great Recession – also in the U.S. – were associated with reduced student test...

blogs.worldbank.org

I have been saying that it is a fallacy to think that the civil servant teachers in Indonesia are not sufficiently paid and I have shown evidence about this. Here we are focusing on civil servant teachers, not private teachers, teaching in small private schools, or those in remote areas which sometimes get paid below minimum wage. If the salary to increase I think it will need to focus on these underpaid teachers rather than their civil servant teachers.

Big Improvement In West Java Schools

I referred to many of your posts (in other threads too) , not only that . Baaa, Baaaa!

www.expatindo.org

Certification of 800,000 Teachers Targeted to be Completed This Year (2025)

The effort to ensure that all teachers in Indonesia are certified by 2026 has begun!

www.expatindo.org

Also, They are not underpaid as the civil servant teachers already receive salaries comparable to other professionals with similar qualifications (e.g UG). There are also a lot of people apply for teaching positions as civil servant, with many applicants but only a small percentage being accepted. With the current job market with a lot of people are made redundant there will be more applicants.

In general, they are already selected from a vast pool based on supply and demand. Simply increasing pay without addressing core issues like corruption in recruitment, vetting of candidate, how they get their degree, teacher's training, professional development and working conditions will only attract more individuals to the profession, not because of talent or passion, but solely due to the financial incentive.

Additionally, if teacher salaries are significantly increased, wages for other civil professions would also need to rise for the fairness to other professions. Also the private sectors that contribute to this profession will also need to raise the salary. They could only increase it to the level they could effort or otherwise the system will collapse. There are elite private schools, International schools, national plus schools aiming for the niche market. For teachers who truly excel, they might want to opt for these schools. These schools are even paying salary higher than a professor paid by the state in Indonesia.

Not to mention free meals for school children has already taken a significant proportion of their budget.

 

[Balifrog]

Not a word about qualification or training ?
Because I think this is a major issue.

 

[Shadrach]

Not a word about qualification or training ?
Because I think this is a major issue.

I totally agree with you about this! They should be trained more and perfect the curriculum with new up to par books and lessons, to insure the students are receiving the best education possible! Nowadays they are even using Computers as part of the training. I don't know how that is working? Is it possible to force poor parents to buy Laptops for the kids? I was shocked talking with students in Padang Bai, that couldn't count to ten without using their fingers! And they told me they had been passed to the Fifth grade level! This should not be allowed. Isn't it up to the Teacher to judge the students by what they have learned that year? And how could they allow students to fall behind so terrible, and still pass them up to the next grade level in school?
When I was a student in middle school, I was being rebellious and refused to do my work, because that was the year President Kennedy put into effect the desegregation Law, where students were bused to different schools, to stop segregation! It made me angry, because I couldn't attend the same High school, as my older siblings. Which was actually a good thing! The kids adapted quickly and we got along fine! It was the Parents that were having a hard time accepting this. At that time Racism was very powerful in the Southern US! So the teachers failed me to move up a grade. I actually did it again the next year, so I had to take Summer School classes to achieve the proper academic level. So, By the time I graduated High School, I was 1 year behind!
I think that should be done here, to properly insure the students have a proper education!

 

[pantaiema]

Those who are asking about the qualification or training; to become a teacher, in Indonesia a person needs to have a bachelor degree (S1) or D4 qualification, e.g the person must have completed four years study at the university. In Addition, nowadays they are also required to have a Teacher Certificate which is done through the Teacher Professional Education (PPG). Currently they will do this certification program after they are employed as a teacher.

The topic about this certification and teacher training program is already discussed in a dedicated link in this forum which I also share in Post #1.

Certification of 800,000 Teachers Targeted to be Completed This Year (2025)

The effort to ensure that all teachers in Indonesia are certified by 2026 has begun!

www.expatindo.org

All these training and certification requirements may sound promising at first, but the real question is how teachers initially obtain their degrees to qualify for the profession, how they are selected to become a teacher. In Indonesia, there is no shortage of degree holders, due to the fact that every teaching vacancy attracts many applicants with the required qualifications, yet only a small percentage are accepted. So why does the overall quality still fall short of expectations?

Regarding students in Padang Bai, that couldn't count to ten without using their fingers!, this might be just an isolated case. ? It might be because he has Intellectual disability ? If someone is unable to count, they cannot manually count individual paddy plants in a rice field, so they can not even help their parents in the rice field. In this case I fully agree they should not be allowed to progress to the fifth grade. But if too many of this kind, the school itself will face a problem as these failed student will keep occupying place/sit of new student progressing to this level.
.

 

[Pak Tani]

The problem runs deeper. We're using a book from the Ministry of Education (!), and today we came across this page:

No amount of certification is enough to prepare a teacher for this. And I wonder if other subjects have similar quality books.

 

[Helpful Herbert]

So, By the time I graduated High School, I was 1 year behind!

Really? We could never tell!

 

[Shadrach]

Really? We could never tell!

Thanks for the kind words. It must be nice to be perfect like you!

 

[savin399]

There have been a few discussions on this topic in the past, but to avoid derailing someone else’s thread, it’s better to start a dedicated one. This way, we can focus specifically on whether raising teachers’ salaries in Indonesia could effectively improve student and school performance. Will increasing teacher's salary improve student and school performance?

There is a good article, small research about this, with good cross referencing.

What do we learn from increasing teacher salaries in Indonesia? More than the students did.

Money matters in education. Recent evidence from the United States shows that increased education spending results in more completed years of schooling and higher subsequent wages for adults. Spending cuts during the Great Recession – also in the U.S. – were associated with reduced student test...

blogs.worldbank.org

I have been saying that it is a fallacy to think that the civil servant teachers in Indonesia are not sufficiently paid and I have shown evidence about this. Here we are focusing on civil servant teachers, not private teachers, teaching in small private schools, or those in remote areas which sometimes get paid below minimum wage. If the salary to increase I think it will need to focus on these underpaid teachers rather than their civil servant teachers.

Big Improvement In West Java Schools

I referred to many of your posts (in other threads too) , not only that . Baaa, Baaaa!

www.expatindo.org

Certification of 800,000 Teachers Targeted to be Completed This Year (2025)

The effort to ensure that all teachers in Indonesia are certified by 2026 has begun!

www.expatindo.org

Also, They are not underpaid as the civil servant teachers already receive salaries comparable to other professionals with similar qualifications (e.g UG). There are also a lot of people apply for teaching positions as civil servant, with many applicants but only a small percentage being accepted. With the current job market with a lot of people are made redundant there will be more applicants.

In general, they are already selected from a vast pool based on supply and demand. Simply increasing pay without addressing core issues like corruption in recruitment, vetting of candidate, how they get their degree, teacher's training, professional development and working conditions will only attract more individuals to the profession, not because of talent or passion, but solely due to the financial incentive.

Additionally, if teacher salaries are significantly increased, wages for other civil professions would also need to rise for the fairness to other professions. Also the private sectors that contribute to this profession will also need to raise the salary. They could only increase it to the level they could effort or otherwise the system will collapse. There are elite private schools, International schools, national plus schools aiming for the niche market. For teachers who truly excel, they might want to opt for these schools. These schools are even paying salary higher than a professor paid by the state in Indonesia.

Not to mention free meals for school children has already taken a significant proportion of their budget.

Teacher pay is only one part of the puzzle, and raising it without fixing the rest of the system rarely gives the results people hope for. If hiring is still influenced by connections, training is inconsistent, and schools lack basic resources, then higher salaries alone won’t make classrooms stronger. The teachers who are already overworked or under supported may not suddenly perform better just because the paycheck is bigger.


What tends to move the needle is combining fair pay with cleaner recruitment, better training, and clearer performance expectations. Countries that improved outcomes usually invested in all of these at once. Indonesia has strong teachers, but the surrounding system often limits what they can deliver, so improving that environment is just as important as the salary discussion.