THE LIGHT IN THE MIDST OF A DELTA
Abriansyah Liberto (Tribun Sumsel – Tribun Network, Palembang)
Muhammadiyah 4 Filial Primary School is built on a wakaf land (a piece of land owned by a Muslim who donates it to his/her community for non-profit usage through his/her will), given by a departed local who wished to help free the children from iliteracy. It is located in the village of Saluran, Talang Kelapa sub-district within the Banyuasin Regency – about 20 kilometers off Palembang, the capital of South Sumatera. The village is in the form of a delta in the middle of the Musi River, which divides Palembang into two parts.
Siti Komariah is the only teacher there, teaching 20 students from the first to sixth grade inside a building measuring 72sqm. The building is the witness to Siti’s dedication, a teacher that sometimes has to care for her baby while working.
Actually, Siti does not qualify to be a teacher in Indonesia. The country requires its primary school teachers to have undergraduate or diploma certificate. She is only a high school graduate, but her true calling is to educate the children in her village. She does not earn much from teaching, only IDR500,000 (approximately USD36) monthly. To fulfill her household needs, she started farming vegetable crops to be sold.
In Indonesia, welfare for teachers is still a struggle. The Chairman for Indonesian Teacher’s Union stated back in 2019 that there were about a million teachers across Indonesia who were still underprivileged.
“When the school first opened, there were six teachers who taught the students from first to sixth grade. But one by one, they quit because of the lack of welfare and the poor infrastructure,” Siti said.
The poor local infrastructure has also hindered the students in the village to continue their study in Palembang. Some had to drop out of school because the cost of water transportation (Palembang is divided into two parts by the Musi River) was too expensive for their parents. In the end, their parents could not afford to pay for their children’s higher education.
The story of Siti Komariah is a reflection of how teachers are not appreciated as they should be in Indonesia. But it is also a story of hope that is born out of sheer dedication to create betterment through education. It is a dedication that is a product of hope to grow educated students with the power to build their village’s infrastructure.