Photo illustration: Novita Eka Syaputri
This article is part of the Teachers' Notes series on unpleasant teaching experience.
At the end of 2019, the civil servant enrolment was opened. Being a non-permanent teacher, I was excited about the news, especially because I already obtained my teaching certificate. The selection test was scheduled to begin in 2020. I prepared for the test by meeting the administrative requirements and buying books to study.
The enrolment test distracted my teaching in class because I had to divide my time to study for the test and prepare for teaching in class. Besides myself, several other teachers at the primary school where I worked also enrolled for the civil servant profession, so we studied together.
We studied during break time or after work. It was ineffective as we were already tired but group study helped me a lot to understand the test's questions because we could discuss them.
My target was to pass the civil servant enrolment test in first or second place, but the result was not what I expected. I was in fourth place.
I made it to the next stage of the test, but the result had me in low spirits because one of my competitors also had the teaching certificate. I temporarily lost my will to teach. I became discouraged from doing administrative work or other tasks at school.
A few days later, I decided to move on. I indeed continued to the next stage and had the chance to pass until the final stage. If I fix my mind to the past test result, I would not be able to focus on teaching. I would let my students down.
In the end, I surrendered everything to God and focused on teaching. I hope this year's my lucky year.
*This Note was written by WA, a primary school teacher in Central Java.
**All articles published in the Teachers' Notes are the views of the authors. They have been edited for popular writing purposes and do not represent the views of RISE Programme in Indonesia or RISE's funders.
