Implementation of the independent curriculum requires the quality of teacher competence and performance. This research describes the competence of primary school teachers (PST) in the Southwest Sumba Regency. This type of research is comparative quantitative. There were 80 teachers who filled out the questionnaire taken from 25 randomly selected elementary schools. Data analysis includes descriptive analysis, and correlation analysis to test the hypothesis. This research found (1) there were significant differences in the competence of teachers in cities, districts, and villages, (2) there were no significant differences in the competence of public and private teachers, (3) there were no significant differences between teachers in public and private schools. This research proves that teacher competence is significantly correlated with the teacher's place of work, but not significantly correlated with teacher status and school status. This research recommends that teachers in districts, cities, and villages improve their competencies which have an impact on the quality of basic education today.