# **1. Introduction**

In academic year 2004/2005, public and private schools at all levels of education enrolled 50.6 million pupils in over 270,000 schools. Based on Law 20, 2003, formal education in Indonesia begins with kindergarten comprised of 2 years followed by primary school which is made up of the first 6 grades. Graduates from primary school continue with secondary education, which is divided into junior and senior secondary levels, comprised of 3 grades each. Graduates from senior secondary schools can continue to diploma or graduate programs or to other types of higher education including university (with numbers years to completion varying depending on the program). In the academic year 2004/2005 the distribution of students across these levels of education was: 5 percent kindergarten, 59 percent pre-school and primary education, 17 percent junior secondary education, 13 percent senior secondary, and 6 percent higher education.

Indonesia has a target of reaching 100 percent gross enrollment rates at the primary school level and 96 percent at the junior secondary school level by 2009. Law Number 20 of 2003 of the National Education System proclaims that every citizen aged 7–15 years must attend basic education. This law implies that the government should provide free educational services to all pupils at the basic level of schooling. Achieving these enrollment targets in education, coupled with investments improving the quality of education, is essential to sustain Indonesia’s growth and competitiveness in the region for the years to come. Efficient and effective education spending will thus be a central element in Indonesia’s poverty reduction strategy.

Since the 1970s, enrollment rates have increased significantly as a result of the government’s sustained drive to build schools across the country. The results have been impressive: the net primary school enrollment rate has increased from 72 percent in 1975 to nearly universal coverage by 1995 and stayed high even through the financial crisis of the late 1990s. In 2005 the net primary enrollment rate was 91 percent (and the gross enrollment rate even exceeded 100 percent).<sup>1</sup> The net enrollment rate for junior secondary education showed an even more marked increase, rising from 18 percent in the 1970s to approximately 62 percent in 2005 (with a gross enrollment rate of 82 percent). The senior secondary enrollment rate has also been increasing, although at a more modest rate (Table 1).

**Table 1** Gross and Net Enrollment Rates for Different Levels of Education in Indonesia 1995–2004

||**1970**|**1980**|**1995**|**1998**|**2000**|**2002 **|**2004 **|**2005**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**Net enrollment rate**|||||||||
|Primary level|72 (a)|88|91.5|92.3|92.4|92.7|93.0|90.9|
|Junior secondary level|17 (a)|--|51.0|58.4|61.7|60.9|65.2|62.1|
|Senior secondary level|17 (a)|--|32.6|36.9|39.5|36.8|42.9|41.6|
|**Gross enrollment rate**|||||||||
|Primary level|80|107|107.0|109.3|110.1|106.1|107.0|104.9|
|Junior secondary level|16|29|65.7|70.3|76.0|79.5|82.2|80.5|
|Senior secondarylevel|16|--|42.4|46.4|51.5|50.4|54.4|52.6|

_Source_ : WB Education Sector Review 2005; various years of Susenas; (a) data points correspond to the year 1975.

However, education services still are not at the desired levels. Critical challenges remain to achieve the goals of the Education for All (EFA), particularly increasing enrollment in junior

> 1 The gross enrollment ratio in education is the total enrollment at that education level, regardless of age, as a percentage of the official school age population for that level. The ideal ratio is a 100 percent, but ratios greater than 100 can occur when there are high numbers of students in a level that does not officially correspond with the education level’s age group. A high (greater than 100) gross enrollment ratio can be indicative of inefficiencies in the educational system. The net enrollment ratio provides the number of students that are of the required age group and are enrolled in school divided by the total number of students in that age group.

2