Education In Indonesia

EDUCATION IN INDONESIA

 Education expenditures: 2.8 percent of GDP (2011), country comparison to the world: 143, Literacy (age 15 and over can read and write): total population: 92.8 percent; male: 95.6 percent; female: 90.1 percent (2011 est.). School anticipation (primary to tertiary education): total: 13 years; male: 13 years; female: 13 years (2011). [Source: CIA World Factbook]

EDUCATION IN INDONESIA

 Twelve-year public and personal primary and education system; the primary nine years mandatory. In 2008 primary and education, both private and public included: 63,444 kindergartens, 144,228 six-year primary schools, 28,777 junior secondary schools, 10,762 general senior secondary schools, and 7,592 vocational senior secondary schools, enrolling a total of 45.4 million students taught by 2.9 million teachers. education schools, for the physically and mentally disabled, numbered 1,686, with 73,322 students and 18,047 teachers. education offered in 2,975 colleges, universities, and other tertiary institutions, with quite 4.2 million students. Adult literacy rate of 90.4 percent in 2009. [Source: Library of Congress *]

 The character of Indonesia’s education system reflects the country’s diverse religious heritage, its struggle for a national identity, and therefore the challenge of resource allocation during a poor but developing archipelagic nation with a population that's young (median age 27.6 years) and growing (at an estimated annual rate of about 1.1 percent) in 2009. Nearly 98 percent of scholars complete grade school consistent with the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) estimates in 2001. The adult literacy rate ranges between 88.5 percent, consistent with a U.S. Government estimate for 2003, and 90.2 percent, consistent with a 2001 UNESCO estimate. *

 Some say Indonesia has one among the worst education systems within the world. In 2013, Indonesia ranked last during a landmark education report that measured literacy, test results, graduation rates and other key benchmarks in 50 nations. Yenni Kwok wrote within the ny Times, “ Indonesia has consistently been among the worst performers within the Program for International Student Assessment — the triennial test given to 15- and 16-year-old students from 65 countries by the Organization for Economic Cooperation Development. within the PISA rankings, Indonesian students’ scores in math, reading, and science lag behind the typical of their peers. [Source: Yenni Kwok, ny Times, June 15, 2014 ^+^]

 consistent with the International Study Center by Boston College in 2001 the archipelago ranked 34th in 38 countries in math ability among 8th grade and 32nd in science ability. consistent with a ranking of education systems and worker productivity in Asia by Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy Indonesia was a stay of 12 countries. As of the first 2000s, about 77 percent of the country's workforce had only graduated from grade school.

 The government’s Household Health Survey estimated an illiteracy rate of seven percent, with more females (10 percent) than males being illiterate (4 percent) and with higher rates in rural (10 percent) than in urban areas (4 percent; Badan Pusat Statistik, 2007b). the very best illiteracy rates occurred in Papua (23 percent; rural 32 percent and concrete 2 percent) and West Lesser Sunda Islands provinces (18 percent; rural 20 percent and concrete 13 percent; Departemen Kesehatan, 2008). These also are two of the foremost malarious provinces in Indonesia. [Source: Iqbal R.F. Elyazar, Simon I. Hay, and J. Kevin Baird, PMC Apr 13, 2011]

History of Education in Indonesia

 Only within the last years of colonial rule did the Dutch attempt to build an academic system. the primary university wasn't opened until 1920. Even within the 1940s, only about 4 percent of the Indonesian population could read. The colonial government limited education to an amount needed to fill positions within the government officials and society of the time.

 Today about 90 percent Indonesians can read and have a grammar school education compared to but 50 percent within the 1960s. within the early years after independence education was given a high priority. By 1961 the illiteracy rate had dropped to 40 percent from 95 percent within the 1940s and therefore the number of universities increased from 4 to 25. the amount of grade school students increased from 2 million in 1940 to eight million in 1961 and therefore the number of lyceum students increased from 25,500 to 700,000.

 Tremendous progress was made toward the goal of universal education under Suharto. In 1973, nearly 20 percent of youth were illiterate. At that point, Suharto issued an order to line aside portions of oil revenues for the development of the latest primary schools. This act resulted in the construction or repair of nearly 40,000 primary-school facilities by the late 1980s, and literacy rates improved significantly nationwide. During 1997–98, the financial crisis affected the poorest families the foremost, leading to their selectively curtailing on their education expenditures. Government funding struggled to stay up with rising costs during this era, but by 2002, consistent with the planet Bank, only 2 percent of those between the ages of 15 and 24 couldn't read, and by 2009, the adult literacy rate was 90.4 percent. *

 Before the Asian depression, 90 percent of youngsters between the age of seven to 12 were in class. The figure plummeted afterward partially because parents needed their children to assist usher in money. The drop out rate among poor teenagers doubled to 25 percent after the Asian depression. After the 1998 Asian crisis crippled the Indonesian economy, schools imposed fees on parents due to a scarcity of funding.

 Public spending on education as a percentage of state expenditure rose from 11.5 percent in 2001 to about 17 percent in 2010, consistent with the United Nations. In 2005 the central government launched a huge plan known in English because the School Operation Fund that pumped billions of rupiah directly into schools. the trouble effectively doubled the education budget between 2000 and 2006, to succeed in $14 billion or 16 percent of all government spending. That was one of the most reasons for President Yudhoyono’s triumphant re-election in 2009. [Source: VOA News, July 19, 2011]

Indonesian Education System

 Indonesia features a twelve-year public and personal education system ( primary—grades one through six; junior high school—grades seven through nine; and senior high school—grades ten through twelve&#41. In Indonesia, educations begin with six years of grade school ( Sekolah Dasar, SD) followed by three years of secondary school ( Sekolah Menengah Pertama, SMP) followed by three years of high school ( Sekolah Menengah Atas, SMA)

 The system is supervised by the Ministry of National Education (which is liable for nonreligious, public schools—about 92 percent of total enrollment at the first level and 44 percent at the secondary level) and therefore the Ministry of spiritual Affairs (which is liable for religious, private, and semiprivate schools—about 15 percent of total enrollment).

 there's a shortage of qualified math, science, and English teachers. Only a few third of scholars complete highschool. About half those that finish grade school finish secondary school. And out half those that finish secondary school graduate from high school.

 Teacher-training programs are varied and gradually being upgraded. for instance, within the 1950s anyone completing a teacher-training program at the junior high school level could obtain a teacher’s certificate. Since the 1970s, however, primary-school teachers are required to possess graduated from a senior high school for teachers, and teachers of upper grades are required to possess completed a university-level education course. Remuneration for primary- and secondary school teachers, although low, compares favorably thereupon in other Asian countries like Malaysia, India, and Thailand. Student-teacher ratios also compare satisfactorily with those in many Asian nations: They were 23.4 to 1 and 18.8 to 1, respectively, for primary and secondary schools in 2004; that very same year, the general averages for Asia-Pacific countries were 22 to 1 and 18 to 1, respectively. [Source: Library of Congress *]

 By 2008 the staff shortage in Indonesia’s schools was not as acute as within the 1980s, but serious difficulties remain, particularly within the areas of teacher salaries, teacher certification, and finding qualified personnel. In many remote areas of the Outer Islands, especially, there's a severe shortage of qualified teachers, and a few villages have school buildings but no teachers, books, or supplies. Providing textbooks and other school equipment to Indonesia’s 37 million schoolchildren throughout the far-flung archipelago continues to be a big problem also, especially in additional remote areas. *

 Participants in Indonesia Mengajar, a program funded by private corporations and travel by prominent university educator Anies Baswedan, are given army survival training before being deployed. But they're not soldiers; they're educated professionals sent to remote corners of the archipelago to show as volunteers in some Indonesia's most impoverished schools. [Source: Al-Jazeera]

Curriculum and nonsecular Education in Indonesia

 Under the National Education Law, religious instruction in anybody of the six official religions is required when requested by a student. during a survey by the U.S. State Department in 2000, 95 percent of all respondents said schools should provide more religious instruction for youngsters. within the mid-2000s Islamic factions and parties pushed through a national education bill which required schools to supply students with religious teaching consistent with their faiths.

 Angel Rabasa of Rand Corporation wrote: “In Indonesia, religious education in state-run schools is multi-religious. Every student who belongs to any of the five recognized religions (Islam, Catholic Christianity, Protestant Christianity, Buddhism, and Hinduism) is entitled to spiritual instruction in his or her religion (although a minimum number of scholars is required before instruction during a particular religion is provided). If no religious instruction is out there by the student’s faith, the scholar has the proper to be excused from religious instruction. Instruction in Confucianism also can be offered as an option in state schools, although Confucianism isn't a recognized religion. The religious curriculum is about by the Ministry of Education, in consultation with representatives of the various religious communities. Textbooks are produced by autonomous publishers, but screened by the Ministry. to reinforce the teachers’ knowledge of other religions, the overall competence aims for the opposite religions are cited within the introduction to the curricula for each religion. [Source: Angel Rabasa, Senior Policy Analyst, Rand Corporation, September 12, 2005 ]

 Textbooks have traditionally been written to engender loyalty to the govt and ruling ideology. Under Suharto, history textbooks didn’t mention anything about the estimated half-million people slaughter in 1965. Revised history textbooks were introduced in 2004. They substituted the rules to “compare various opinions” for the “Communist Party” within the section associated with the September 1965 attempted coup.

 A central goal of the national education system isn't merely to impart secular wisdom about the planet but also to instruct children within the principles of participation within the modern nation-state, its bureaucracies, and its moral and ideological foundations. Beginning under Guided Democracy (1959–65) and strengthened within the New Order after 1975, a key feature of the national curriculum—as was the case for other national institutions—has been instruction within the Pancasila. Children age six and older learned by rote its five principles—belief in one God, humanitarianism, national unity, democracy, and social justice—and were instructed daily to use the meanings of this key national symbol to their lives.

 Public schools, emphasis on moral and civil studies under the rubric of Pancasila was altered after the top of the New Order. Since 2000, for instance, courses in “Pancasila Morality” are referred to as “Civic Education” and their intensity and propagandistic qualities much reduced. But with the top of the New Order in 1998 and therefore the beginning of the campaign to decentralize the national government, provincial and district-level administrators obtained increasing autonomy in determining the content of schooling, and Pancasila began to play a diminishing role within the curriculum. Most religious schools emphasize Islamic values and though

Public Schools in Indonesia Increasing Go Islamic

 Yenni Kwok wrote within the NY Times, “When Lies Marcos heard that her daughter’s high school, in Bogor, Indonesia, required all-female Muslim students to wear a head veil once every week, she was furious. Although she was a Muslim and a graduate of an Islamic university in Jakarta, she visited the varsity to object to the imposition of the religious uniform during a state school. As a result of her protest, she said, the order was rescinded — though her teenage daughter decided to wear the top scarf anyway to suit in together with her friends. [Source: Yenni Kwok, NY Times, June 15, 2014]

 “About 400 kilometers, or 260 miles, away, in Yogyakarta, Central Java, another parent, Tri Agus Susanto Siswowiharjo, says he would like to send his daughters to a public lyceum, but he, too, is worried that they might need to wear Islamic dress. Mr. Tri Agus, a political communications lecturer at a rural-development college whose wife is Catholic, now sends his daughters to a personal Catholic grade school. Although he's a Muslim, he said he believed that religion belonged within the private sphere and will not be imposed. “If they need to find out about their religion, they will study its reception,” he said in an interview.

 “Many parents like Ms. Lies and Mr. Tri Agus say they expect public schools to be neutral and to reflect the multicultural heritage of a rustic that recognizes six religions. But, within the past 10 to fifteen years, schools have increasingly adopted policies that favor Islam, the bulk religion, ordering Muslim students to wear Muslim-styled uniforms either a day or a minimum of on Fridays, when Muslims attend mosque. Some schools also require Muslim students to recite verses from the Koran every morning before the teachings begin.

 “The rise of Islamic practices publicly schools, mirroring an increase in fundamentalism across the country, makes parents like Ms. Lies and Mr. Tri Agus uneasy. “I sent my children to public schools so that they might learn universal values, have different sorts of friends and learn pluralist ideas,” Ms. Lies said.

 “Some schools now hold a daily mass recital of the Koran before formal classes begin. In one school in eastern Jakarta, Muslim students spend 15 to twenty minutes reading the Koran every morning, guided through a public address system, said an educator at the varsity, speaking on condition that neither she nor the varsity is identified, for fear of professional repercussions. Christian students sit together in one room, within hearing of the Koranic recital, to read the Bible, the teacher said. Hindu and Buddhist students, who don’t have their religious teachers within the school, read their religious texts while sitting within the same rooms as their Muslim classmates reciting the Koran.”

Reasons for the increase of Islamism in Indonesian Public Schools

 Yenni Kwok wrote within the NY Times, “The rise in such practices has affected teachers too. Henny Solo, head of Yayasan Cahaya Guru, a teachers’ nonprofit foundation, said that from 2007 to 2010, the organization provided training to 4,500 teachers from 2,000 schools, an awesome majority of whom were female teachers from public schools. “We noticed that nearly all of them wore jilbab as uniform,” Ms. Supolo said, about what Indonesians call the Islamic headscarf. “Jilbab has become a part of the uniform for female public school teachers whom we met.” this is often alarming, she said: “If jilbab has become a part of the uniform at public schools, then the function of public schools as an area to sow plurality to our youngsters will disappear.” Retno Listyarti, Secretary-General of the Indonesian Teachers’ Union Federation, put the difficulty bluntly: “Public schools became religious schools,” she said. “This shows that the bulk is usually right, while the minority has got to adapt.” [Source: Yenni Kwok, NY Times, June 15, 2014 ]

 “Educators like Ms. Supolo have urged the Education Ministry to require action against the spread of Islamic uniforms and other religious distinctions. But the ministry’s spokesman, Ibnu Hamad, says the central government doesn't have powers to intervene. Such issues “are largely under the jurisdiction of local governments, within the framework of regional autonomy,” he said. Emboldened by decentralization, which began after the autumn of the authoritarian regime of former President Suharto in 1998, local politicians have often pushed a populist, religiously inspired agenda, saying that it could counter social problems including teenage pregnancy and substance abuse. “We are so nervous in facing social and moral problems like teen delinquency that we are turning to irrational religious teachings,” Ms. Lies said.

 “Andreas Harsono, the Indonesia researcher for Human Rights Watch, who is doing a field study on women’s rights in several provinces, says the imposition of Muslim code on public-school students and teachers is now widespread, “from kindergarten to high school .”Implementation can vary: “Sometimes it’s supported the school’s own decision, sometimes it’s the district head’s decree, the mayor’s or the governor’s,” Mr. Harsono said. But in each case, “the central government, during this case the Ministry of Education, just lets it happen.” 

 “Jilbab, which has become so ubiquitous in Indonesia, became popular only within the post-Suharto years. Before then, public school students and teachers were banned from wearing head veils on school grounds and people who did so might be expelled. for a few female activists like Ms. Lies, wearing a jilbab was a logo of resistance to Mr. Suharto’s iron-fisted rule. In those years, the top veil “was the case of Islamic schools versus state-owned ones,” said Dewi Candraningrum, editor of the feminist Jurnal Perempuan (Women’s Journal) and author of the book “Negotiating Women’s Veiling.” The Islamic uniform — an extended skirt, a long-sleeved shirt and a jilbab for women — was worn only by students of faculties travel by Islamic organizations like Muhammadiyah every Friday.

“But because the government loosens up, allowing students and teachers to wear the top veil — should they prefer to do so — has become a mark of spiritual difference even within schools. “Muslim schoolgirls now need to wear a jilbab,” Ms. Dewi said. “Jilbab has become a logo of Muslim girls, who are alleged to look different from non-Muslim girls.” Ms. Retno, the teachers’ union official, says nobody should be prohibited from wearing a head veil but nobody should be forced or coerced to wear one either. “Wearing a jilbab should be voluntary,” said Ms. Retno, who wears one.”

Universities in Indonesia

 There are some 1,634 institutions of upper education, including the University of Indonesia in Jakarta, founded by the Dutch within the 1930s, and Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, founded by Indonesians in 1946. the simplest universities are mostly in Java. Top universities include the University of Indonesia in Jakarta and Trisaki University and therefore the Universitas Gajah Mada in Yogyakarta. Bandung Institute of Technology (Institut Teknologi Bandung) is the top technical university. Opened in 1920, it had been one among the primary universities to open its doors to Indonesians. Sukarno studied engineering there and formed a study club that grew into the Indonesian Nationalist Party.

 Other major universities include Catholic University in Bandung and therefore the Institut Pertanian Bogor, in Bogor. There are also important regional universities in Sulawesi Selatan, Sumatera Utara, Jawa Barat, and Papua. Approximately 15 percent of Indonesia’s students of upper education attend a public or private Islamic university, institute, academy, or polytechnic. Among these is that the State Muslim University (UIN)—formerly called the State Institute for Islamic Religion (IAIN)—which has been a crucial venue for progressive debates about Islam. [Source: Library of Congress *]

 Indonesia’s institutions of upper education have experienced dramatic growth since independence. In 1950 there have been 10 institutions of upper learning with a complete of about 6,500 students. In 1970, 450 private and state institutions enrolled about 237,000 students, and by 1990 there have been 900 institutions with about 141,000 teachers and nearly 1.5 million students. By 2009 there have been 2,975 institutions of upper education and quite 4.2 million students. of those institutions, 3 percent were public, with 57.1 percent of the scholar enrollment, and 97 percent were private, with 42.9 of the scholar enrollment. albeit government subsidies finance approximately 80 to 90 percent of state university budgets, universities have considerably more autonomy in curriculum and internal structure than primary and secondary schools. Whereas tuition in such state institutions is cheaper for average students than private-university tuition, faculty salaries are low by international standards. Lecturers often produce other jobs outside the university to supplement their wages. *

 Private universities are generally operated by foundations. Unlike state universities, private institutions have budgets that are almost entirely tuition-driven. A one-time registration fee (which is often quite high) is decided at the time of entry. If a university features a religious affiliation, it can cover a number of its costs with donations or grants from international religious organizations. the govt provides only limited scholarship support for college kids wishing to attend private universities.

 education has suffered from a lecture-based system, poor laboratories, a shortage of adequate textbooks in Indonesian, and a poor level of English-language proficiency, which keeps many students from using such foreign textbooks as are available. Research in universities is restricted and mainly serves government projects or private enterprise and allows researchers to supplement their salaries.[Source: everyculture.com ]

 Today many Indonesians have earned advanced degrees abroad and most have returned to serve their country. during this effort, the govt has received considerable support from the planet Bank, United Nations agencies, foreign governments, and personal foundations. Increasingly, better-educated people serve in the least levels in national and regional governments, and therefore the private sector has benefitted greatly from these educational efforts. [Ibid]

History of upper Education in Indonesia

 The colonial government greatly limited education in Dutch and therefore the vernaculars, and other people were primarily trained for government officials and industrial and health professions. The Dutch limited education to an amount needed to fill positions within the government officials and society of the time. [Source: everyculture.com **]

 The Republic of Indonesia Institute for education (BPTRI) was founded in Jakarta shortly after independence was declared in 1945. When the Dutch returned effectively, BPTRI dispersed its various schools to other parts of Java. The Dutch established Nood Universiteit (Emergency University) in Jakarta in 1946, and therefore the following year changed its name to Universiteit van Indonesië (UVI), or University of Indonesia. On Groundhog Day, 1950, within the wake of the war for independence, the govt established a state university in Jakarta called Universiteit Indonesia. it had been composed of units of BPTRI and UVI; the name Universiteit Indonesia was later changed to Universitas Indonesia. This institution enrolls about 37,000 students per annum. Universitas Gadjah Mada lays claim to being the oldest Indonesian university. it had been founded in Yogyakarta on December 9, 1949, but was giving its first lectures in early 1946 (when Yogyakarta was the Republican capital). State-owned Gadjah Mada has an annual enrollment of about 54,000 students. [Source: Library of Congress *]

 At the time of formal independence in 1949, the republic had few schools or university faculties. Mass education became a serious government priority for the subsequent five decades. Indonesian mass education, with a special philosophy, has had the effect of manufacturing more graduates than there are jobs available, even in strong economic times. Unrest has occurred among masses of job applicants who seek to stay in cities but don't find positions commensurate with their view of themselves as graduates. Students are political activists from the 1920s to this. They played a serious role within the ouster of Suharto in 1998.

 From the late 1970s through the l990s, private schools and universities increased in number and quality and served diverse students (including Chinese Indonesians who weren't accepted at government universities). Many of those institutions' courses are taught in afternoons and evenings by faculty members from government universities who are well purchased their efforts. The New Order regime made great efforts to expand educational opportunities while also influencing the curriculum, controlling student activities, and appointing pliant faculty members to administrative positions. New campuses of the University of Indonesia near Jakarta, and Hasanuddin University near Makassar, for instance, were built far away from their previous locations in the middle of those cities, to curb mobilization and marching.

University Programs in Indonesia

Indonesian institutions of upper education offer a good range of programs. However, about 52 percent of all non-teacher-training students enrolled in education was social sciences majors within the 2008–9 school year, while only 3 percent majored in laboratory-intensive fields of study, largely because universities like better to offer science courses that don't require expensive laboratories and equipment. the main degree programs are the Sarjana (literally “scholar,” roughly like a bachelor’s degree) and therefore the Pasca Sarjana (master’s or doctoral degree). Professional schools offer “diploma” and “specialist” degrees, the latter graded either “SP1" or “SP2," counting on the extent of advancement. From 2001 to 2004, the number of scholars completing their Sarjana degrees grew dramatically from about 308,000 in 2001 to just about 683,000 in 2004, a 122-percent increase. This level stood at 652,364 graduates at the top of the educational year 2008–9. [Source: Library of Congress *]

 Discussion about the way to improve Indonesian education focuses on the problems of teacher salaries, laboratory and research facilities, and professors’ qualifications. Only 7 percent of university faculty overall held a Ph.D. within the mid-2000s, although the proportion was greater (11 percent) in state institutions. Because doctoral programs are few in Indonesia and there's little money to support education overseas, this example is improving only slowly. Despite these difficulties, most institutions of upper education receive large numbers of applications; in state institutions, but one in four applications was accepted in 2004; private institutions, the acceptance rate was nearly two out of three. one of the foremost serious problems for graduates with advanced degrees, however, is finding employment suited to their newly acquired education. In 2003 the percentage for school graduates with a Sarjana degree was approximately 20 percent, and 10 percent for graduates of professional schools.