20.5% of Honorary Teachers Earn Less Than Rp500,000 Per Month

Many honorary teachers in Indonesia received inadequate wages as of May 2024. This is according to a survey conducted by the Institute for Demographic and Poverty Studies (IDEAS) and Dompet Dhuafa.

The survey revealed that 74.3% of respondent honorary or contract teachers earned less than Rp2 million (approximately US$130) per month. Of this group, 20.5% earned less than Rp500,000 (approximately US$33) per month.

Furthermore, 26.4% of honorary teachers earned Rp500,000-Rp1 million (approximately US$33-US$65) per month. Another 10.2% earned Rp1-Rp1.5 million (approximately US$65-US$98) per month, and 17% earned Rp1.5-Rp2 million (approximately US$98-US$130) per month.

The IDEAS survey also found that 12.8% of respondents reported earning Rp2-Rp3 million (approximately US$130-US$195) per month, and 7.6% earned Rp3-Rp4 million (approximately US$195-US$260) per month.

Additionally, 4.2% of honorary teachers received remuneration of Rp4-Rp5 million (approximately US$260-US$330) per month. Only 0.8% of respondents earned more than Rp5 million (approximately US$330) per month.

Muhammad Anwar, a researcher at IDEAS, noted that the inadequate wages received by the majority of respondents (74.3%) were equal to or even less than the lowest Kabupaten/Kota Minimum Wage (UMK) in Indonesia, which is Rp2.03 million (approximately US$133) in Banjarnegara Regency.

"This means that even in areas with the lowest cost of living, teachers, especially honorary teachers, still struggle to meet their basic needs," Anwar stated in a written statement on Tuesday, May 21, 2024.

Anwar's statement aligns with another survey point: with an average of 3 family members, 89% of teachers felt their income from teaching was barely enough or insufficient to meet their living expenses. Only 11% reported that their income was sufficient and they had some left over.

Therefore, due to their low income, teachers have undertaken various efforts to cover their living expenses, one of which is having a side job in addition to teaching.

The survey on teacher welfare in Indonesia was conducted by IDEAS and Dompet Dhuafa during the first week of May 2024 in conjunction with National Education Day.

The online survey involved 403 teacher respondents from 25 provinces, with 291 respondents from Java and 112 from outside Java.

The survey respondents comprised 123 civil servant teachers (PNS), 118 permanent foundation teachers, 117 honorary or contract teachers, and 45 PPPK teachers.

(See also: [This Data on Non-ASN Employees in Indonesia 2023, How Many Honorary Teachers are There?](https://databoks.katadata.co.id/datapublish/2024/02/05/ini-data-pegawai-non-asn-ri-2023-berapa-jumlah-guru-honorer))