Semoga segala urusan dipermudahkan. I’m hoping for the best. Amin.

Mencemburui gaji guru

Oleh WAHID HASHIM
[email protected]

SAYA mencemburui guru muda kerana gaji permulaan mereka sekarang berada dalam ranking ketiga selepas doktor dan jurutera awam. Dengan gaji permulaan sebanyak RM2,500 hingga RM2,700 – termasuk beberapa elaun – maka gaji pokok mereka sebenarnya mengatasi sebahagian besar pendapatan eksekutif syarikat swasta.

Kalau di pedalaman, mereka cuci kaki kerana kerajaan menyediakan rumah, televisyen katil tilam, dapur, malah khabarnya set televisyen dan ‘mangkuk’ Astro di bumbung! Bukan itu sahaja, guru juga ada elaun khas, dengan jumlahnya bergantung kepada tafsiran pedalaman tempat mereka mengajar.

Memang mereka bekerja keras. Tetapi, seribu satu pengumuman tentang kenaikan, elaun, kebajikan, kemuliaan, pengiktirafan dan penghormatan kepada golongan guru sepatutnya telah meletakkan profesion itu pada tahap yang sepatutnya sekarang.

Seperti kata Abraham Lincoln: ”Jangan fikir apa yang negara boleh beri kepada kita, tetapi fikirkanlah apa sumbangan yang boleh kita berikan kepada negara.”

Maksud tokoh itu, jangan seperti seekor burung yang keluar pagi balik petang, sekadar mahu mengisi perut sendiri dan untuk anak-anaknya. Berfikirlah lebih daripada itu. Perjuangan lebih penting.

Jadi, apabila Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin mahu bersemuka dengan ahli kesatuan dan beberapa guru yang terlalu ghairah memperjuangkan nasib guru, maka saya ingin mengingatkan ‘kepala-kepala’ persatuan dan kesatuan ini supaya bersedia dengan fakta dan hujah yang waras dan logik atau laras senapang mungkin akan menghala ke arah kepala anda sendiri!

Dua isu besar yang selalu dibangkitkan ialah kerja perkeranian nan remeh temeh sehingga menambah beban seorang guru, dan kedua kenaikan gred atau mata gaji yang terlalu lembap oleh guru, apabila dibandingkan dengan pegawai tadbir dan diplomatik (PTD).

Memang isu yang pertama selalu bermain di bibir, tetapi tidak ada kes, data atau contoh yang boleh dijadikan asas kukuh untuk Kementerian Pelajaran melakukan tindakan susulan.

Kita perlu perhalusi bukti dan fakta. Kalau dikatakan kerja berlebihan, maka kerja lebih yang bagaimana, apa dan di mana? Nyatakan bukti dan skop. Lakukan analisis keperluan atau analisis jurang profesion. Kemukakan kertas lengkap kepada pejabat Menteri Pelajaran.

Apakah berlebihan seandainya seorang guru diminta membuat plan tindakan kecemerlangan pelajar kalau pelan itu boleh membantu meningkatkan prestasi sesebuah sekolah?

Kini sudah terdapat seramai 400,000 guru yang mendidik anak-anak kita di seluruh negara. Dalam setandan, ada sebiji yang rosak. Bukan semua. Kita faham benar dengan kekecewaan guru khususnya apabila isu tentang kenaikan gaji yang lembap disuarakan.

Memang benar kenaikan sebahagian besar gaji memang lembap berbanding PTD. Seorang ibu yang sudah 25 tahun menjadi guru mungkin baru menikmati mata gaji DG48, berbanding anaknya, pegawai PTD yang baru lima tahun berkhidmat sudah menikmati tangga gaji itu.

Untunglah kalangan guru yang cepat naik pangkat, kerana cepat jugalah kenaikan tangga gaji mereka. Bagi yang di bawah Khusus Untuk Penyandang (KUP) atau mengikut tempoh perkhidmatan, maka terpaksalah menunggu sehingga beranak, bercucu dan bercicit.

Tetapi perlulah juga diingatkan bahawa bagi setiap kenaikan gaji, maka ada beban tanggungjawab yang menyusulinya.

Maksudnya, mereka ini mungkin perlu diikat dengan konsep bai’ah. Pengetua dan guru besar mungkin sudah biasa dengan konsep bai’ah, tetapi belum bagi guru.Di bawah konsep bai’ah, pengetua atau guru besar membuat perakuan dan bersetuju bahawa dalam tempoh tiga tahun perlu ada peningkatan prestasi di sekolah mereka mengajar. Jika gagal, mereka mungkin ‘dipencenkan’ lebih awal.

Sekarang, guru tidak mempunyai komitmen atau akujanji terhadap pencapaian prestasi. Hal ini mungkin menyebabkan mereka goyang kaki.

Memang kita faham benar akan beban kerja guru dan pada masa yang sama masyarakat menuntut guru melakukan yang terbaik untuk mendidik anak bangsa. Namun, kalau kita percaya bahawa perbuatan baik dan kerja yang ikhlas akan dibalas dengan perkara yang baik juga, maka pasti kepentingan perjuangan kita akan mengatasi habuan dunia yang sementara ini.

Taken from Utusan Online: http://www.utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp?y=2010&dt=0329&pub=Utusan_Malaysia&sec=Pendidikan&pg=pe_01.htm

Encik Wahid Hashim,

Now, tell me, which new teacher earns a basic salary of 2.5-2.7k?

For all I know, new teachers are either graduated from the KPLI course or the Bachelor of Education course which allows them to earn DC41’s salary at P1T5, RM1901.80 monthly.

If you tell me that the government provides teachers with fully furnished house with Astro, you are definitely wrong. It clearly shows that either you have never been to any school in Pedalaman area or you are making simple generalisation.

I live in a house provided by the government.  The house is empty except for a wardrobe in each room and kitchen cabinet. No bed, no mattress and definitely no TV. If a new teacher came into a house fully furnished as what you have mentioned, it was the hardship of the teacher living before them to make the house all complete. I have to wait six months before I have a TV and a decoder. I have been sleeping on air mattress. I went through a period of darkness when the solar hybrid had a major failure, and the solar is still having problems gearing up that left us sitting in the dark during the night.

I am considered lucky to be staying in a new single-storey house. Other teachers have to make do with the old quarters that squakes when they walk, have no kitchen and have no bathroom or toilet inside their house.

When you talk about evidence of teachers having to do other work apart from teaching, what kind of evidence that you want? A stated black and white documentation of what need to be done? It’s all in the Rekod Pengajaran Harian.

The schools in Pedalaman area are still lacking in the number of teachers and staff. Teachers have to take up other administration posts to make the school runs smoothly. Schools in the urban area have their own technicians and librarian. Schools in Pedalaman do not have that. In fact teachers have to be the librarians, teachers have to become technicians. A Pekeliling was circulated about teachers with special posts like Guru Data and Guru Pusat Sumber will only have a maximum of 18 teaching periods a week. However, in most schools in Pedalaman, this does not happen. Some Guru Pemulihan has to take over the post of Guru Data. Some Guru Pusat Sumber still have to teach 37 periods of English due to the lack of teachers. With 37 periods to teach, these teachers are left with only ONE free period everyday thus slowing them down from getting the library administrative work done.

You may easily say, come in the afternoon and get all the work done. You see, teaching in schools in Pedalaman may be easy because of the small number of students. However, due to the lack of exposure, teaching them is even harder than teaching a number of 40 students in a class from an urban school. Having to teach and average of 7-8 periods a day will leave the teachers feeling knackered and fatigue by the end of the day. And that from teaching alone.

When you talk about teachers are not bounded by ‘prestasi sesebuah sekolah’, if we are not bounded by that, tell me, why do we still have UPSR, PMR, SPM and STPM? What makes you say that teachers are not binded with the commitment towards the achievement of the school? Each year, teacher and students have to work hard to make sure that the school achieve its target, to make sure that the percentage of pass or As increase. If a school does not perform, the teachers have to answer to that, the GB or the Pengetua has to answer to that.

Encik Wahid Hashim,

You have to understand that the Elaun Pedalaman that we receive is for us to spend on going in and out of schools. You see, Pedalaman is far from town. Some Pedalaman area allows no landed vehicles to reach to that place. When you live far away from a town, you have to pay a lot for the transportation.

Take for example a teacher who is going out to get his errands done in Sandakan because there is no ATM or bank in Beluran. A shared boat ride from Kampung Bukit Besi to Beluran will cost RM25 per person. If this person has no car and have to take a lift, he will need another Rm18 to get to Sandakan. When he completes all his errands, he needs another RM18 to get back to Beluran and another RM 25 to get back to Kampung Bukit Besi. Every trip to Sandakan will cost him and approximate of RM86. A trip out every weekend, a trip out to get to meetings and courses will eventually finishes the Elaun Pedalaman that he receives every month.

That does not include all the expensive fare tickets that teachers from Semenanjung have to bare with just to be able to see their loved ones.

At the end of the day, the pay that we receive every month is at par with those who live in cities.

The Ministry of Education is trying to implement that all new teachers have to teach in Pedalaman area first, before they are allowed to transfer to another school. An incentive for teachers is necessary if the Ministry is implementing this. Teachers in Pedalaman will have something to look forward to at the end of the month for their willingness to be apart of urbanisation and to be apart from their loved ones.

Encik Wahid Hashim,

If you are jealous with teachers in Pedalaman for earning Elaun Pedalaman and another Elaun Tambahan Khas, why not you come and stay here in Pedalaman, come and teach here in Pedalaman. You will get those incentives too. What say you?

No?

I guessed so.

p/s: Encik Wahid Hisham, maybe you should read this too.