ABSTRACT
Indonesia has been fronting insuperable educational problems for decades, especially in the frontier, outlying, and underdeveloped areas, the so-called 3T areas. In the attempt to improve the educational quality in Indonesia, the government made endeavors to enhance the quality of its teachers since teachers hold a prominent key in educating students. By means of improving teacher quality in Indonesia, the government expects students to receive a quality education. Hence, in 2011, the Ministry of Culture and Elementary and Secondary Education through the Directorate General of Higher Education established a program, namely Sarjana Mendidik di daerah Terdepan, Terluar, dan Tertinggal (SM-3T). This program recruits recent graduates (in the latest four years of recruitment processes) of undergraduate program from accredited teaching departments who are willing to teach in impoverished areas across Indonesia for a year. After finishing one-year teaching practices in the assigned 3T schools, teacher candidates were granted a scholarship of teaching training program and certification for pre-service teachers, namely Program Pendidikan Profesi Guru (PPG).
