How Much is Teacher Paid in Indonesia?

This question may be asked by many of English Education Program graduates. I had taught for around six years before I decided to do a career switch. 

Yet this is so important to note that:

1. I taught at a private school and an English course
2. I had never been a civil servant nor taught in a public school as an in-service teacher
3. I am an Indonesian citizen, and an expat definitely gets different amount of monthly salary
4. I have not been CELTA/TEFL certified because I cannot afford the course which is pricey (check the CELTA course program here)
5. The salay had never been more than USD300 (Rp4,500,000 was the max in my experience)

Okay, let's get to the main topic.

In my first year of teaching, it was in 2015. I was still a university student, almost in my final year. I challenged myself to teach in a small course which provided teaching service for students from all levels. Since I had not graduated yet and it was a part time job, my salary was only Rp25,000/class (USD 1.66) and Rp30,000/class (USD 2) depending on the student levels. After I accumulated my salary, in one month, I could get around Rp700,000 (USD 46/month).What do you think? 

Shortly after I graduated, I was lucky that I got accepted in a private school, and received a much better salary. I was paid Rp2,500,000/month (USD 166/month) from 2017-2018 as an English and Science teacher. Although so, I quit the job a year after my teaching career there because it was exhausting and I did too many teaching hours and paperwork.

In 2018, I could say I had a much better life then. I was accepted to work in Batam teaching English in a course. During my 3-month-training period, I was paid Rp3.000.000/month (USD 199.69/month), which I found out later that other new teachers were paid much more (Rp3.800.000-Rp4.000.000) (USD253-266). But, it's alright. I felt quite content with what I did, and the tasks were not so burdensome as I used to do in my previos job. After that training period, the employer paid me with the minimum job there, Rp4,000,000/month (USD266/month). I got a rise every year but it had never been more than USD300/month. After almost 3 years working in Batam, I finally realised that it was not a high amount of money since the rent was expensive, and so was the food an travel cost. Thus, I decided to quit in 2021, went back to my hometown and did  carerr switch.

Only if had I been CELTA certified and worked at an ainternational school, then I'd had been paid at least USD 500 (around Rp8,000,000).

Although it may still very low compared to other countries' minimum wage, USD 500/month in Indonesia has been considered more than enough. 

• Typically, a comfortable room rent in cities starts from USD 99/month
• You may spend on food for USD 133/month
• You may need additional cost for travel cost from your place to your workplace, but it can be cheap and expensive depending on the transport mode
• You may have some money saved depending on your life style