TNP2K and Minister of Education To Handover KIAT GURU Pilot Program To Local Government

09 May 2018

TNP2K along with Ministry of Education and Culture-Directorate General of Teachers and Education Personnel (Ditjen GTK) and the District Governments of Ketapang, Sintang, Landak, West Manggarai and East Manggarai held a Reflection Workshop to discuss further steps in continuing the implementation of KIAT Guru pilot project.

In their presentation, TNP2K-KIAT Guru reported initial findings on pilot’s implementation from October 2016 up until April 2018. These findings suggest that there has been an increase in teacher’s presence and performance. This change is correlated with improvement in the presence as well as literacy and numeracy learning outcomes of students in 203 KIAT Guru pilot schools. Payment of government-funded teacher allowance based on teacher’s service quality also led to efficiency up to seven percent of initial allocation. Subsequently, community’s evaluation on teacher’s service performance indicators, including teacher’s attendance, have also improved.

As the head of KIAT Guru National Implementation Team, Temu Ismail of Ditjen GTK-MoEC stated that MoEC and TNP2K will not immediately withdraw from the five pilot districts following June 2018, “We will look after local governments as they continue the pilot until December 2018. The central government will also engage district governments in developing guidelines to disseminate KIAT Guru mechanisms to other schools in remote villages,” he said.

To ensure the project is sustained in an autonomous yet objective and targeted manner across all five pilot districts beyond June 2018, a Cooperation Agreement between five district governments with MoEC and TNP2K have been signed regarding the implementation of KIAT Guru pilot project in 2018. As a response, the Regional Coordination Team in five districts have also issued District Head Regulation on Technical Guidance to the Implementation of KIAT Guru Pilot Program in 2018, District Head Decree on Regional Coordination Team, and District Head Decree on KIAT Guru Participating Pilot Schools and Teachers in 2018.  

During the reflection workshop, several learning points were identified:

1. Regulations on KIAT Guru pilot program should be socialized.
2. Monthly evaluation on teacher’s performance should involve participation from KIAT Guru village cadre, user committee members, village government, teachers, school supervisor, and District Coordination Team.
3. Implementation of teacher evaluation instruments should be monitored.
4. Payment of performance-based teacher allowance should be disbursed on time.

Grievances from community members must also be handled appropriately by Regional Coordination Team in each of the five districts. These lessons serve as fundamental guidelines for district stakeholders as they continue pilot activities autonomously.

Next Steps for Regional Coordination Team

Regional Coordination Team have developed an action plan on sustaining the pilot beyond June 2018 following its handover from TNP2K.

Several action plans at village/school level,

1. Village Government will allocate fund, hold, supervise and attend monthly evaluation meeting on teacher performance.
2. KIAT Guru village cadre, user committee, teachers, village government and school supervisor will conduct a fair and objective evaluation on teacher performance.
3. Principal will report results from monthly evaluation meeting on teacher performance to education agency in a timely manner. 
4. KIAT Guru village cadre and user committee will report village fund spending in a transparent manner to both village government and community members.
5. KIAT Guru village care will hold regular evaluation meeting on service agreement with user committee, teachers, and village government. 

Action plans at district level,

1. To socialize KIAT Guru regulations to village as well district level stakeholders.
2. To monitor pilot implementation in village/school on a regular basis.
3. To ensure KIAT Guru evaluation instruments on teacher performance, including the KIAT Kamera, are used appropriately by teachers and community members.
4. To ensure monthly evaluation and reporting of teacher performance as well as payment of performance-based teacher allowance are conducted according to protocols.
5. To follow up on grievances from village stakeholders regarding monthly evaluation and reporting as well as evaluation of service agreement.

In supporting district governments effect this action plan, TNP2K and MoEC have prolonged technical assistance at the district level until December 2018 to facilitate their readiness in further sustaining pilot activities beyond 2018.

Two personnel from TNP2K will be placed in each district to help oversee monthly evaluation on teacher performance at the village level as well as payment of performance-based teacher allowance at the district level. At the end of this year, it is expected that conclusive findings complemented with districts’ reflections on the pilot can be formulated into a policy recommendation for the central government.

Head of Kabupaten Landak’s Education Agency, further emphasized, “… education hurdles should not be the responsibility of a single local government work unit; through KIAT Guru, all agencies in the government, which includes Education Agency, Village and Community Empowerment Office, Regional Development Planning Board and other OPDs, are brought together to synergize in ensuring the quality of education service delivery.

“KIAT Guru needs to be promoted and not just limited in the five pilot districts but to all other districts in Indonesia where schools with similar challenges as the current pilot schools are located. Therefore, I hope the central government can apply KIAT Guru mechanism in all provinces in Indonesia to ensure the welfare and livelihood of the nation, through our students,” said the District Secretary of West Manggarai, Rofinus Mbon, in concluding the reflection workshop.

The reflection workshop was held in series and participative method on 3-5 May 2018 in Pontianak for the three West Kalimantan pilot districts and on 7-9 May 2018 in Bali for the two pilot East Nusa Tenggara districts.

The workshop was attended by representatives from MoEC-Ditjen GTK, TNP2K, Yayasan BaKTI and Regional Coordination Team from the five pilot districts, which consisted of the head as well as members of Education Agency, Regional Development Planning Board, Village and Community Empowerment Office, as well as District Inspectorate.