Jakarta (Suara Pembaruan: (09/03/07) The certification test required for teachers to get professional allowance has irked my conscience as an educator. I am offended and ashamed, because teachers’ profession have been marked with many terms which make teachers feel uncomfortable standing up in front of the classroom facing the students.

Teacher is an honorable task for those who are assigned to educate and to teach students, but this profession has become the topic of a heated debated. Teacher, according to the paradigm of modern education, is one of students’ sources of knowledge and facilitator. Until now, teachers still get students’ respect and appreciation. However, extensive media coverage concerning teachers in Indonesia who are mostly deemed unprofessional or incompetent can be accessed by any citizens.

Students read those articles. Now I wonder whether teachers are still capable of raising their head facing students in front of the classroom when students asked, "Bu, I read at the newspapers, that teachers in Indonesia are unprofessional is it true?” The extensive coverage concerning the debate on teachers’ professionalism and certification will backlash against the education in Indonesia. Currently, there are many Indonesian students pursuing education abroad. Almost 62 years of this beloved republic’s independence, countless is the number of students have who been educated by our teachers who devoted their life and now become important figures in the government and private institutions.

As an Indonesian citizen, shouldn’t we be proud of their devotion? Amid the rapid development, teachers build our character, even though they received humiliation and scorn while their welfare is only a day dream. All of us should have a clear vision that teachers also have the desire and the determination to devote themselves to educate and to teach the children of the nation. Teachers, whom parents have given their trust to educate their children, are those having moral responsibility to develop the intellectuality of the nation. This is clear, and need no further seminar or workshops that only waste a lot of money. Teachers in this republic still have the conscience to teach and to educate their students correctly.