Angry students undergoing teacher training at various universities in East Nusa Tenggara province staged a protest yesterday against 700 contractors assigned by the federal government to teach in local schools.

Thousands gathered outside the provincial legislature and governor’s office in Kepang to oppose the move, which the Ministry of Education and Culture says is part of a program to have university graduates teach in poor, remote areas.

As part of this policy the government assigned 700 contract teachers from Java and Sumatra to teach in 10 districts in East Nusa Tenggara.

However the protesters, calling themselves the Speaking NTT People Forum, demanded that local graduates be assigned to local schools and accused the ministry of humiliating and insulting universities in the area by seeking people from outside the province.

They called on education minister Muhammad Nuh to cancel the assignments since local universities produce many highly qualified individuals, too.

“We want the minister to immediately withdraw these contract teachers and replace them with honorary educators, who have served for years in East Nusa Tenggara,” said Sefnat Y Ali, one of the protest organizers.

Catholic University of Widya Mandira rector, Father Yulius Yasinto, said the government policy was “somewhat unfair,” and ill-thought out.

The Divine Word educator said local universities should be involved in recruiting contract teachers, as every year they produced about 1,000 graduates.

“The policy really underestimates the role of local universities in the province. Do contract teachers from outside this province have better skills than local educators?” he asked.

Responding to the students’ demands, the chairman of the provincial legislature Ibrahim Agustinus Medah promised bring their case up with the minister.