Professor of Bandung Institute of Technology Djoko Santoso testifying as an expert for the Government at the judicial review hearing of Law No. 14 of 2005 on Teachers and Lecturers, Monday (2/20/2023). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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Monday, February 20, 2023 | 14:30 WIB

JAKARTA (MKRI) — Study leave is no longer part of a lecturer’s profession, so it is appropriate that profession allowances are only given to lecturers who are implementing the three pillars of higher education, said professor of Bandung Institute of Technology Djoko Santoso as an expert for the President/Government at the fourth material judicial review hearing of Law No. 14 of 2005 on Teachers and Lecturers for case No. 111/PUU-XX/2022 on Monday, February 20, 2023 in the Constitutional Court’s (MK) plenary courtroom.

In his presentation on “Lecturers’ Obligations and Rights (Substantive Review),” Djoko said the role of lecturers is very substantial. Because educators always look to the future, they must have high education. That in higher education, lecturers must make innovations, develop science and technology, human resources, and create new industries. “If educators or lecturers do not have [high] education, this cannot be realized,” Djoko explained at the session presided over by Chief Justice Anwar Usman and the other constitutional justices.

In Indonesia, lecturers are educators and scholars so they are more than just researchers, whose duty is to develop knowledge by implementing the three pillars of higher education in order to disseminate their knowledge. In developed countries lecturers must have a doctoral degree while in Indonesia, they can start their careers from a master’s degree, earned through a study leave. As a consequence, he said, lecturers on study leave are not given allowances because they are not carrying out their job as lecturers while on leave.

Also read:

Suspension of Certification Allowance for Studying Lecturers Questioned

Ministry of Education and Culture: No Allowance for Studying Lecturers Not Violating Rights

The Petitioners argued that the a quo article was implemented as temporary suspension of payment of professional allowances for lecturers from 2009 to 2022. As a result, the Petitioners lost their financial rights while pursuing further studies at a number of higher education institutions in Indonesia while taking study leave. This interpretation is not based on the best interests of lecturers taking study leave, especially those who are currently or will be pursuing further studies at their own expenses entirely or partially or on a scholarship even though they still have some workload for their position. Ideally, as long as they have workload for their lecturing position, they deserve lecturer certification allowances.

Therefore, they requested that the Court grant the petition and declare Article 51 paragraph (1) of the Teacher-Lecturer Law along the phrase “in carrying out professional duties” unconstitutional and not legally binding if not interpreted to mean “in carrying out professional duties, also includes lecturers taking study leave.”

Writer        : Sri Pujianti
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR            : M. Halim
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 2/21/2023 14:56 WIB

Disclaimer: The original version of the news is in Indonesian. In case of any differences between the English and the Indonesian versions, the Indonesian version will prevail.

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