Jakarta. The idea to set up a marketplace for hiring teachers using a centralized database has raised concerns that teachers will be paid very late.

A teachers’ association said Thursday that the so-called teacher marketplace proposed by Education Minister Nadiem Makarim will give the authority in paying hired educators to the central government.

Normally, the regional governments handle the monthly salary in a timely manner regardless of when the central government reimburses the payment.

But under the proposed system, the central government will transfer the payment directly to schools that hire teachers from the database, said Rizki Safari Rakhmat, the chairman of the Certified State School Teacher Forum (FGBSN), 

“Technically speaking, the allowances from the central government to teachers who are not civil servants must be paid every three months, but they aren’t channeled in time,” Rizki said.  

“Therefore, we are pessimistic that hired teachers will be paid on the first day of the month. Or maybe, like many other marketplaces, there is a ‘pay later’ option,” he added.

Rizki said before the system comes into effect, there must be insurance in advance about how hired teachers will be paid.

He also said the marketplace system could potentially downgrade the teaching profession to traded commodities.

“Teachers don’t suit traded goods for sale in a free market. It’s okay to have the database, but I think it’s too much to put [teachers] in the free market. This country has a governance system and regulations on issues about teacher recruitment and their future career,” he said.