Robert Go, Jakarta – At the beginning of his career, an Indonesian teacher can expect a salary of just S$170 per month – a reflection of the low priority given to education.

Depending on where he works, he may have to single-handedly deal with overcrowded classrooms housing between 40 and 50 students each.

PGRI, the country's teachers' association, said the government would need to hire another half a million teachers immediately if it wants students to be properly educated.

Last year, state auditors found 75 cases of fraud within the Education Ministry and the school system, and the loss of millions of dollars meant for improving schools.

Media reports last September described how students in West Java had to sit on the floor during classes as furniture in the province's 1,500 schools had rotted away or broken down due to age and poor maintenance.

Indonesia is facing an education crisis, a fact highlighted by numerous international and local studies of the country's school system and students.

Unesco, the latest agency to publish such information, last week ranked Indonesian students near the bottom of the list when it comes to basic skills, compared to children in 42 other countries.

Ranking: Bottom of the list

Unesco has ranked Indonesian students near the bottom of the list when it comes to basic skills, compared to children in 42 other countries. Teachers' low salaries and qualifications and corrupt officials are blamed for the poor education system. The rural communities bear the brunt because few qualified teachers want to work in these areas.

Experts said low salaries and qualifications for teachers, corruption among officials, poor education infrastructure and a lack of government funding all contributed to the woes.

Dr Mohammad Surya, PGRI's president, noted that before the economic crisis in the late 1990s, the government had spent 70 Singapore cents on the education of a child each year. That average has dropped significantly since, he said, and the government's education budget this year of around S$2.8 billion is not enough to build more schools, increase teachers' salaries and buy books for students.

Most of the nation's 2.2 million teachers have received university education but few have secured advanced degrees and too many have only a high school diploma. Rural regions, in particular, suffer as few qualified teachers want to work in such areas, given the low pay and lack of prestige.

Dr Surya said: "Our national leaders talk about improving education. But in truth, we have seen few reforms since this government came into office. We need to spend more on education if we want to improve the system." Such additional funds, he and other education experts said, would help schools attract more qualified and better-educated teachers and improve their facilities.

Education Minister Abdul Malik Fajar has similarly campaigned for more cash for schools, but also assessed Indonesia's school curriculum as another area that needs changes. He said last week that the general programme taught by schools "lacked imagination" and was often "out of touch with everyday life".

And yes, corruption rears its ugly head again when it comes to education funds. Indonesian non-governmental organisations and corruption-watchers have documented numerous graft cases over the last few years involving education officials.

According to the Education Care Foundation, the most common scams involve the mark-up of books and school equipment purchased by the government, with both officials and suppliers of such goods playing the game.

Since 2000, for instance, the government has bought millions of textbooks at about 47 rupiah (one Singapore cent) per page from publishers, even though the current going rate on the market for such items is less than half that figure, or between 18 and 22 rupiah per page.

Dr Surya said Indonesia's education system would continue to lag behind and students would continue to be less competitive than those of other countries unless the government made education a priority. He said: "Politicians just promise to improve education but never deliver. As a consequence, our next generation will be poorly prepared."