Kemendikdasmen: Over 200 Thousand Teachers in Indonesia are Not Bachelor Graduates, Most are Elderly

Director General of Teachers and Educators at the Ministry of Education and Culture (Kemendikdasmen), Nunuk Suryani, stated that approximately 8 percent of teachers in Indonesia are not certified. This is due to many teachers not meeting the minimum academic qualifications of S1 or D4. Ministry of Education and Culture data shows that more than 200 thousand teachers have not yet met these qualifications. Nunuk mentioned that most teachers without S1/D4 are senior educators recruited when they graduated from Teacher Education Schools (SPG), D1 PGSD, or D2 PGSD. These teachers are primarily working in early childhood education and primary schools. Nunuk explained, ‘Most of them are already elderly, like me. Because back when I was in school, I went to SPG, where graduates could become elementary school teachers, and most of them are civil servants.’ According to Nunuk, these teachers are unable to participate in the Teacher Professional Education (PPG) program, thus, they cannot obtain teaching certification. Kemendikdasmen projects that teacher certification levels will reach 92 percent by the end of 2025. The remaining 8 percent, overlapping with over 200 thousand non-S1/D4 teachers, need to be addressed through accelerated academic qualification affirmation. This year, the government has provided academic qualification enhancement scholarships to 12,500 teachers, especially in early childhood education and primary schools. The program to obtain S1/D4 qualifications is carried out through the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) mechanism. This allows teachers aged 47 and above to complete their education in one year without the obligation to write a thesis. Out of the 12,500 participants, 11,094 teachers are targeted to continue to PPG in 2026, while the remaining 1,406 are scheduled to attend PPG in 2027.