Prof. Didi continued that the presence of a teacher in life is a very decisive thing. “There is no engineer, there is no athlete, there is no astronaut, without the presence of teachers in our lives,” he continued.
Reflection on the great role and services of teachers is a reflection of the achievements of education in Indonesia. “Of course there are many things that we have achieved. A number of innovations have been made, but of course we cannot stop here,” added Prof. Didi.
According to him, education in Indonesia needs to continue to transform. “Especially in relation to how we have good teachers, teachers who are in accordance with the needs of the times,” he said.
The Professor of Linguistics also mentioned the importance of efforts to improve the welfare of teachers. “As stated earlier in the Minister of Education and Culture’s speech, the government will continue to try to improve the welfare of teachers,” he said. Because, according to him, currently there are still many teachers with below standard welfare.
The government’s ability to appoint teachers to become civil servants is still limited, which has been the main obstacle so far. However, Prof. In Didi’s view, the government has taken a middle way through the enactment of the Government Employees with Work Agreement (PPPK) policy.
“Hopefully with these various steps, our teachers will become more qualified, their lives will be more prosperous,” he said. Prof. Didi also believes that this will have a direct impact on the goodness of Indonesian children. “Both in terms of personality, mastery of science, and mastery of technology, which is needed at this time,” he continued.
Prof. Didi also advised that the UPI academic community needs to have teacher souls. This is because UPI is a university with a core business of education. “To students, working wherever in the future, all of us must have a teacher’s soul,” he concluded.
The Teacher’s Day ceremony was also attended by all other UPI environmental leaders. In addition, the ceremony was attended by representatives of lecturers, educational staff, and students from all faculties and work units. Also present were representatives of teachers and students from the UPI Laboratory School.