The President Reviews School Day Regulation

Media Indonesia, page 2

The Government has decided to review the regulation concerning school days and raise the level of its enactment from a Ministerial Regulation of Education and Culture (Permendikbud) to become a Presidential Regulation (Perpres). This was stated by the Director General of Primary and Secondary Education of Kemendikbud, Hamid Muhammad, in Jakarta yesterday (19/6).

Hamid said that this was a result of the meeting between the President, Joko Widodo, with Mendikbud, Muhadjir Effendy, and the Head of Indonesia Ulema Council, Ma’ruf Amin, in Istana Merdeka Jakarta yesterday afternoon. Hamid continued that there would be further discussions between ministries and organizations conducting education.

Meanwhile, Mendikbud Muhadjir Effendy confirmed that the background of five-day school emergence was the decision of closed meeting (ratas) in President office on February 3, 2016. In such meeting, school and employee holidays were synchronized to be Saturday and Sunday with the purpose of decreasing the teachers’ workload.

Muhadjir added that in following up such meeting, PP Number 19 Year 2017 was created to replace PP Number 74/2008 concerning Teachers and is applicable from July 2017. He continued that with such PP, teachers’ workload would be changed from a minimum 24 hours in front of classes to the 40 hours a week of other civilian state apparatus. Kemendikbud is currently arranging the technical implementation guidelines based on the PP, as well as dialogue with other ministries and communities.