No plan to stop teachers' allowance : Finance minister

Jakarta (Antaranews Lampung) - The government has no plan to stop or cut teachers' allowances, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani said.
        
"The teachers who have received professional and special allowances will continue to receive the allowances in all regions in accordance with the list that the Education and Culture Ministry has received," she said in a press conference here on Tuesday.
        
The Finance Ministry has three alternatives to make optimum use of the funds particularly teachers' allowances which are now being kept in regional governments, she said.
        
Director General of Finance Balance at the Finance Ministry Astera Primanto Bhakti said the first alternative is that the government will do nothing if the amount of fund allocated for teachers' allowances meets the need until the end of this year,
   
The second alternative is that the government will provide additional fund in the form of reserves if the amount of fund allocated for teachers' allowances is not enough.

        
The amount of reserve fund which has been distributed to 31 regions is recorded at Rp74 billion, Astera said.
        
The third alternative is that the government will stop fund allocations for teachers' allowances if the remaining fund is still being kept and is enough to pay the teachers' allowances until the end of this year, he added. *