Acceleration of development in the Province of South West Papua has three main themes, namely Healthy Papua, Productive Papua, and Smart Papua. Specifically for the third theme, namely Smart Papua, the Regional Government of the Province of South West Papua has begun to focus on development in the field of education to be able to continue to improve the intelligence of the community in terms of education, namely through schools. Formal education from elementary school to high school has been running smoothly in the province. Starting from schools with the status of state schools and also foundation schools. However, the main focus of the regional government is to be able to encourage both state schools and foundation schools to optimally provide education to the community in order to produce quality educated people in line with the theme of the development of Smart Papua.
The community in the Province of South West Papua is quite heterogeneous with their respective backgrounds. Schools with the status of foundation schools offer heterogeneity in the community, such as schools with religious backgrounds, for example. The programs implemented by the central government so far have been quite significant in helping the development of education in South West Papua, but there are still several problems that need to be considered for joint resolution. One of them is the matter of facilities in foundation schools in terms of educational facilities including teachers as teaching facilities.
The program designed by the central government is related to operational assistance to schools in South West Papua and also the welfare of teachers who are appointed as Government Employees with Work Agreements. The problem is that when teachers have been appointed as part of government employees, the teacher will only teach in public schools. So that foundation schools need replacement teachers immediately so that the teaching and learning process continues to run smoothly.
South West Papua Province implements Special Autonomy which applies to all areas of society including education. The local government is trying so that teachers who are appointed as Government Employees with Work Agreements can continue to teach in foundation schools. In addition, large amounts of operational assistance are also being budgeted as part of the acceleration of development by providing assistance to build qualified teaching and learning facilities, especially at the secondary school level.
The importance of education in South West Papua is in line with one of the three main themes of development implemented, namely Smart Papua. The provision of formal education from elementary school to secondary school is mandatory for the local government to its people. Formal education, both in public schools and foundation schools, goes hand in hand with the hope of being able to meet the needs of the community. When at the high school level, the local government increases the construction of teaching and learning facilities, namely by adding the construction of practice facilities, especially for vocational high schools. So that when the community has completed formal education, they will gain knowledge and skills to pursue the next field.
