Program of Bachelor Teachers to be Discontinued

Koran Sindo, page 2

The Ministry of Research, Technology, and Higher Education (Kemristekdikti) has decided to discontinue the Program of the Bachelor Teaches in the Outermost, Frontier, and Underdeveloped areas (SM3T) this year. This program was considered as not being able to meet the immediate need for teachers, as was stated by Dirjen of Learning and Student Affairs (Belmawa) of Kemenristekdikti, Intan Ahmad.

The SM3T Program was a government effort to send education personnel to the various remote areas in Indonesia and was devoted to Bachelors of Education who had just graduated. With relatively high salaries, the SM3T participants were minimally on duty for a year. They also received priority in being appointed as civil servant (CPNS) candidates after taking the Professional Teacher Education (PPG) for one year.

Meanwhile, the Director of Learning of Ditjen of Learning and Student Affairs (Belmawa) of Kemenristekdikti, Paristiyanti Nurwardani, explained that this discontinuation of the SM3T program had been taken only after careful consideration. Even though the number of enthusiasts for the program was high, practically it was not capable of meeting the immediate need for teachers. She continued that besides this, the program was intended to recruit professional teachers who were able to work all over Indonesia, which was also expected to meet the need for teachers in Indonesia.

She said that the appointment of SM3T participants as CPNS was a lengthy process. In addition, the program requirement stating that PPG student candidates should be recent graduates actually hampered the recruitment process for teachers. This was because many bachelors of education who were not recent graduates would like to be PPG students.

Paris also stated that the review for the discontinuation of SM3T program had been ongoing for almost a year. After considering the various aspects, the government finally decided to replace SM3T with the hybrid/Blended Learning program. Through this program, there would be teacher recruitment targeting 10,000 teachers in a year.