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Education in Indonesia

Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Technology Ministry of Religious Affairs
Minister of Primary and Secondary Education Minister of Higher Education, Science, and Technology Minister of Religious Affairs	Abdul Mu'ti Brian Yuliarto Nasaruddin Umar
National education budget (2017)
Budget	IDR 416.1 trillion USD 31.2 billion
General details
Primary languages	Indonesian
System type	Curriculum
Merdeka Curriculum	4 February 2022
Literacy (2018)
Total	95.66%[1]
Male	97.33%[1]
Female	93.99%[1]
Enrollment (2018)
Total	(N/A)
Primary	93.5%[1]
Secondary	78.73%[1]
Post secondary	36.31%[1]

Education in Indonesia falls under the responsibility of theMinistry of Primary and Secondary Education (Kementerian Pendidikan Dasar dan Menengah, orKemendikdasmen), theMinistry of Higher Education, Science, and Technology (Kementerian Pendidikan Tinggi, Sains, dan Teknologi, orKemendikti Saintek) and theMinistry of Religious Affairs (Kementerian Agama, orKemenag). In Indonesia, all citizens must undertake twelve years ofcompulsory education. This consists of six years at the elementary level and three years each at the middle and high school levels.Islamic,Christian,Hindu,Buddhist andConfucian schools are under the responsibility of theMinistry of Religious Affairs.

Education is defined as a planned effort to establish a study environment and educational process so that the student may actively develop their own potential in various domains.^{[citation needed]} TheConstitution also notes that there are two types of education inIndonesia: formal and non-formal. Formal education is further divided into three levels: primary, secondary and tertiary education.

Schools in Indonesia are run either bythe government (negeri) orprivate sectors (swasta). Some private schools refer to themselves as "national plus schools", which means that their curriculum exceeds requirements set by the Ministry of Education, especially by usingEnglish as the medium of instruction or having an international-based curriculum instead of the national one. In Indonesia there are approximately 170,000 primary schools, 40,000 junior-secondary schools, and 26,000 high schools. Eighty-four percent of these schools are under the Ministry of Education and Culture and the remaining sixteen percent under the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

The Indonesian education system is the fourth largest in the world with more than fifty million students, three million teachers, and 300,000 schools.^[2] The compulsory education system is divided into three levels: primary school, junior high school, and senior high school.^[2] Primary school and junior high school are free, while senior high school requires a fee.^[2] In 2018, the net enrollment rates for primary school, junior high school, and senior high school were 93.5%, 78.84%, and 60.67%, respectively.^[3][1] The tertiary-education participation is low at 36.31%.^[1] In 2011, the completion rates for primary, junior high school, and senior high school were 95.3%, 97.68%, and 96.8%, respectively.^[2]

Indonesian students can choose between state-run, nonsectarian public schools supervised by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Kemendikbudristek) and private or semi-private religious (usually Islamic) schools supervised and financed by the Ministry of Religious Affairs.^[4] Although 86.1% of the Indonesian population is registered as Muslim, only fifteen percent of school-age individuals attended religious schools according to the 2000 census.^[4] Overall enrollment figures are slightly higher for girls than boys, and Java has higher enrollment figures than the rest of Indonesia.^[4]

A central goal of the national education system is to impart secular wisdom about the world and to instruct children in the principles of participation in the modern nation-state, its bureaucracies, and its moral and ideological foundations.^{[4][citation needed]} Beginning under theGuided Democracy period and strengthening in theNew Order after 1975, a key feature of the national curriculum was the instruction in thePancasila.^[4] Children aged six and older learned by rote its five principles —belief in one God,humanitarianism, national unity,democracy, andsocial justice — and were instructed daily to apply the meanings of this key national symbol to their lives.^[4] With the end of the New Order in 1998 and the beginning of the campaign to decentralise the national government, provincial and district-level administrators obtained increasing autonomy in determining the content of schooling, and the role of Pancasila in the curriculum began to diminish.^[4]

Public-school pedagogy emphasises rote learning and deference to the authority of the teacher.^[4] Teachers customarily do not ask questions of individual students; rather, they typically narrate a historical event or describe a mathematical problem, pausing at key junctures to allow the students to call out responses that "fill in the blanks".^[4] By not identifying individual problems of students and retaining an emotionally distanced demeanor, teachers are said to demonstrate patience, which is admired in Indonesian culture.^[4]

The emergence of the Islamic state in Indonesia is noted by the acculturation of Islamic and Hindu-Buddhist traditions. During this period, thePondokPesantren, a type of Islamic boarding school, was introduced. The location of pesantren is mostly far away from the hustling crowd of the city, resembling the location of Karsyan.

Elementary education was introduced in Indonesia by theDutch during the colonial era. The Dutch education system was a series of educational branches based on the social status of the colony's population, with the best available institutions reserved for the European population.

In 1870, with the growth of theDutch Ethical Policy formulated byConrad Theodor van Deventer, some of these Dutch-founded schools opened the doors forPribumi (native Indonesians). They were calledSekolah Rakjat (folk school), the predecessor of what is calledSekolah Dasar (elementary school) today.^[5] In 1871, the Dutch parliament adopted a new education law that sought to uniform the highly scattered and diversified indigenous education systems across the archipelago and expand the number of teacher-training schools under the supervision of the colonial administration. The public school budget was raised in steps from approximately 300,000 guilders in 1864 to roughly 3 million guilders by the early 1890s. Educational development often lacked funding because many Dutch politicians feared expanding education would eventually lead to anti-colonial sentiment.^[6] Funding for education only accounted for six percent of the total expenditure of the colonial budget in the 1920s. The number of government and private primary schools for natives had increased to 3,108 and the libraries to 3,000 by 1930.^[7] However, spending sharply declined after theeconomic depression in 1930.^[6]

The Dutch introduced a system of formal education for the local population of Indonesia, although this was restricted to certain privileged children. The schools for the Europeans were modeled after the Dutch education and required proficiency in Dutch. Dutch was also needed for higher education enrollment. The elite native and Chinese populations who lacked Dutch language skills could enroll in either Dutch Native or Chinese schools. The schools were arranged in the following levels:

• ELS (Dutch: Europeesche Lagereschool "European Low School") – primary school for Europeans
• HSS (Dutch: Hollandsch-Schakelschool "Dutch-Switch School")
• HIS (Dutch: Hollandsch-Inlandscheschool "Dutch-Native School") – primary school for natives
• HCS (Dutch: Hollandsch-Chinescheschool "Dutch-Chinese School") - primary school for Chinese
• MULO (Dutch: Meer Uitgebreid Lager Onderwijs "More Advanced Low Education") – middle school
• AMS (Dutch: Algemene Middelbareschool "General Middle School") – high school or college
• HBS (Dutch: Hogere Burgerschool "Higher Citizen School") – pre-university

For the rural population, the Dutch created theDesa Schools, or village schools system, which aimed to spread literacy among the native population. These schools provided two or three years training in vernacular subjects (reading, writing, ciphering, hygiene, animals and plants, etc.) and served as cheaper alternative schools. These village schools received far less funding than the European schools, thus the quality of education provided is often lacking.^{[citation needed]} Despite its flaws, the number of village schools increased to 17,695 by 1930.^[7] The rest of the rural education was left to the Christian missionaries, which were considered more cost-efficient.^[7][8]

The segregation between Dutch and Indonesian people in education pushed several Indonesian figures to start educational institutions for local people.Arab Indonesians foundedJamiat Kheir in 1905;Ahmad Dahlan foundedMuhammadiyah in November 1912; andKi Hajar Dewantara foundedTaman Siswa in July 1922 to emancipate the native population. The number of pesantrens grew rapidly during this period.^[9]

During the colonial period, there was a large gap between the educated male and female population. In 1920, on the island of Java and Madura, 6.5% of the male native population were literate compared to only 0.5% of the female native population. A similar phenomenon could be observed in the Arab and Chinese population, with 26.5% of the male population being literate and only 8.5% of the female population being literate. In the outer islands beyond Java, the difference between literate male and female population was 12% and 3% out of the population respectively.^[7] Inspired by Javanese-born aristocratKartini, who died young at the age of 25, the Van Deventer family worked to increase female involvement in education and received support from the Dutch government — eventually leading to foundation ofKartini Schools in 1911.^[7]

In 1920, the Dutch founded theBandung Institute of Technology, Indonesia's first university-level educational institution, as well as other universities and colleges for native Indonesians on the island ofJava. Most of these universities have become the country's top educational institutions. These institutions are as follows:^[10]

• School tot Opleiding van Inlandsche Artsen orSTOVIA, a medical university which later becomeGeneeskundige Hogeschool inBatavia.
• Nederland-Indische Artsen School or NIAS, a medical school inSoerabaja.
• Rechts-Hoge-School, a law school in Weltevreden,Batavia.
• De Technische Hoge-School, or THS, a technic school inBandoeng and the first full-fledged university in the country (opened in 1920).
• Middelbare Landbouw-school, an agriculture college which later becomeLandbouwkundige Faculteit inBuitenzorg
• Opleiding-School voor Inlandsche Ambtenaren or OSVIA, colleges for training native civil servants.
• Hollandsche-Indische Kweek-school, colleges for training teachers.

By the 1930s, the Dutch had introduced limited formal education to nearly every province of the Dutch East Indies, although by this period only 7.4% of the population were literate in 1931,^[11] and 2% were fluent in Dutch. Around the outer islands beyond Java, to meet demand for schooling, the Dutch government relied heavily on missionary schools that provided a basic education.^[7]

During theJapanese occupation inWorld War II, the operations of the Dutch education system were consolidated into a single operation that paralleled the Japanese education system. These schools were organized with the goal of creating theGreater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere of influence and trained in military and physical drill that were anti-West oriented. The new curriculum also included indoctrination of Japanese culture and history, such as requiring students to raise the Japanese flag and bow to the Emperor every morning. The Japanese made schools less stratified; despite this, enrollment shrunk by thirty percent for primary education and ninety percent for secondary education by 1945.^[8]

After Indonesia declaredits independence in 1945, the surviving education system was fragile and unorganized. There was a shortage of teachers, as most of them had been Dutch or Japanese.^[8] Very few Indonesians had experience in managing schools.

The first government of Indonesia had to create a system from scratch and reject the colonial European system. Chapter eight, article thirty-one, clause one of the1945 constitution declared that "every citizen has the right for education".^{[citation needed]} The Ministry of Education, Instruction and Culture was founded with its first minister,Soewandi [id]. The new institution sought to create an education system that was anti-discriminatory, -elitist, and -capitalist to promote nationalism of the new republic of Indonesia. It was also decided that religion deserved a proper place and attention under the new republic, resulting in an increased support for pesantren and Islamic Madrasah.^[8]

In 1961, 46.7% of the population were literate.^[11]

By 2008, the staff shortage in Indonesia's schools was no longer as acute as in the 1980s, but serious difficulties remained, particularly in the areas of teacher salaries, teacher certification, and finding qualified personnel.^[4] In many remote areas of the outer islands, there is a severe shortage of qualified teachers, and some villages have school buildings but no teachers, books, or supplies.^[4]

Pre-school education in Indonesia is covered under PAUD (Pendidikan Anak Usia Dini, lit. Early Age Education) that coversTaman Bermain (playgroup) andTaman Kanak-Kanak (kindergarten, abbreviated TK). PAUD is under direct supervision and coverage of the Directorate of Early Age Education Development (Direktorat Pengembangan Pendidikan Anak Usia Dini).^{[citation needed]}

Children attend Taman Bermain at the age of two and TK at the age of four. Most TKs arrange the classes into two grades: A and B, which are informally calledkelas nol kecil (little zero grade) andkelas nol besar (big zero grade), respectively. While this level of education is not compulsory, its aim is to prepare children for primary schooling. Of the 49,000 kindergartens in Indonesia, 99.35% are privately operated.^[12]

Children ages six to twelve attend primary school, calledSekolah Dasar (SD).^[4] As of 2014, most elementary schools are government-operated public schools, accounting for 90.29% of all elementary schools in Indonesia.^[13] Students generally spend six years in primary school but may finish in five through an accelerated learning program.^{[citation needed]} Although the youngest children are sometimes allowed to use their local language, nearly all instruction is conducted inIndonesian by the third year of primary school.^[4]

Three years (or two through an accelerated learning program) ofjunior high school (Sekolah Menengah Pertama, or SMP) follow elementary school.^[4] Specialized options include academic and vocational junior high schools that lead to senior-level diplomas and "domestic science" junior high schools for girls.^[4]

After completing junior high school, students may attend three years (or two through an accelerated learning program) ofhigh school (Sekolah Menengah Atas, or SMA). Students who do not wish to attend traditional high schools can choose from forty-seven programmes ofvocational and pre-professional high school (Sekolah Menengah Kejuruan, or SMK), divided into the following fields: technology and engineering, health, arts, craft and tourism, information and communication technologies, agro-business and agro-technology, and business management.^[14] Students can also attend agricultural, veterinary, and forestry schools.^[4]

Special schools at the junior and senior levels teach hotel management, legal clerking, plastic arts, and music.^[4]

Students with disabilities or special needs may opt to be enrolled in a separate school from the mainstream calledSekolah Luar Biasa (SLB, Extraordinary School).^[15]

Teacher-training programs are varied and gradually being upgraded. In the 1950s, anyone completing a teacher-training program at the junior high school level could obtain a teacher's certificate.^[4] Since the 1970s, primary-school teachers have been required to graduate from a senior high school for teachers, and teachers of higher grades have been required to complete a university-level education course.^[4]

The school year is divided into two semesters. The first commences in July and ends in December; the second commences in January and ends in June.

Specialization groups (kelompok peminatan)

There are three types of Islamic schools in Indonesia:pesantren,madrasah, andsekolah islam. Pesantren are led by hereditarykyais, who lead the school and have religious authority. Madrasah vary in their ideological foundations and vary in the provision of secular and religious content. Sekolah Islam use the Ministry of Education and Culture's secular curriculum and add their own Islamic curricula.^[19]

Some Muslims have resisted the secular and nationalist emphasis in public schools and placed their children in a pesantren.^[4] Usually found in rural areas and directed by a Muslim scholar, pesantren are attended by young people seeking a detailed understanding of the Quran, the Arabic language, sharia, and Muslim traditions and history, as well as more modern subjects such as English, mathematics, and geography. Students can enter and leave the pesantren any time of the year, and the studies are not organized as a progression of courses leading to graduation.^[4] Those who opt for a pesantren education can complete a state test to obtain a sixth-grade equivalency certificate.^[4]

Pesantren are not unified in their position on Islam or secularism.^[4] Some pesantren emphasise the autonomy of modern students to think for themselves and to interpret scripture and modern knowledge in a way that is consistent with the teachings of Islam.^[4] Others are more traditional and stress the importance of following the wisdom of elders, including their teachings on science, religion, and family life.^[4] Although the terrorist bombings inKuta, Bali, in 2002 raised suspicions about whether pesantren promote extremist views, the majority of these schools market themselves as theologically moderate and reflecting the views of the general Indonesian population.^[4]

For students to adapt to life in the modern nation-state, the Muslim-dominated Department of Religion (now the Ministry of Religious Affairs) advocated in the 1970s for the spread of a newer variety of Muslim school: the madrasah.^[4] This type of school integrates religious subjects from the pesantren with secular subjects from the Western-style public-education system.^[4] Although the public generally believes that Islamic schools offer lower-quality education, among Islamic schools a madrassa is ranked lower than a pesantren.^[4]

Raudhatul Athfal (RA) is the Islamic pre-schooling equivalent of TK,Madrasah Ibtidaiyah (MI) is the Islamic schooling equivalent of SD, andMadrasah Tsanawiyah (MTs) is the Islamic schooling equivalent of SMP.Madrasah Aliyah (MA) is the Islamic schooling equivalent of SMA, whileMadrasah Aliyah Kejuruan (MAK) is the equivalent of SMK.^{[citation needed]}

Higher education in Indonesia is offered by several types of institutions includingacademic education,vocational education, andprofessional education.^[20]

Since 2012, the Indonesian education system has been organized on the Indonesian National Qualification Framework (Indonesian:Kerangka Kerja Nasional Indonesia, KKNI).

• Indonesian National Academic Exam
• Test-Based National Selection
• List of universities in Indonesia
• List of schools in Indonesia
• List of Indonesian agricultural universities and colleges

• (in English)World Bank data on education in Indonesia
• Vocational Education in Indonesia - UNESCO UNEVOC (2013)
• (in Dutch)Primary education in the Dutch East Indies
• Education in Indonesia, webdossier of the German Education Server

• Education in Indonesia

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