10 Facts about Education in Indonesia

Indonesia is a country that is well known of the great number of natural resources. Its
beautiful nature and archipelago seems like become the invitation for a people abroad to visit
Indonesia. However, the question about how the human resources in Indonesia could be a
point too. That is why the government will never be exhausted to always improve the
education system to support their human resource.
Not all people want to know about the education system in Indonesia. Some of the
visitors will just be fascinated with the nature without recognizing the education. That is why
we would like to enlarge the 10 facts about education in Indonesia.

1. Indonesia has changed the curriculum 9 times

Since 1947 up to 2017, Indonesia has changed the curriculum 9 times. Indonesia has
applied 10 curriculum. Here are the curriculum in Indonesia:
 In 1947s : Rentjana Pelajaran 1947
 In 1952s : Rentjana Pelajaran Terurai 1952
 In 1964s : Kurikulum 1964
 In 1968s : Kurikulum 1968
 In 1975s : Kurikulum 1975
 In 1984s : Kurikulum 1984
 In 1999s : Kurikulum 1994 dan Suplemen Kurikulum 1999
 In 2004s : Kurikulum Berbasis Kompetensi
 In 2006s : Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan
 In 2013s: Kurikulum 2013
Those changes of curriculum in Indonesia was done for many considerations. It is
because the ministry of Education was always changed and they found that the curriculum
was not effective. That is why there are so many changes in curriculum during 50 years.

2. Indonesia is on the 69th position from 127 countries in Education Development Index
Based on Education Development Index reported by UNESCO in 2011, Indonesia is
on the 69th position of its education development. The high rate of dropped out children from
school caused the low index quality education in Indonesia. The ministry of Education also
stated that 4 children dropped out from school every minute in Indonesia. The most reason of
dropping out children from school is because of the economy factor.

3. Indonesians students are categorized as the happiest student in the world

Depend on a survey that is conducted by PISA (Programme for International Students
Assessment) in 2015, the students of Indonesia is the happiest students compared to other
students from abroad. Although the academic test shows the bad result for Indonesia, but
there is a good news for the mental condition of Indonesian students. That is why they are
categorized as the happiest students.

4. The most lessons that they learn are exact science

In Indonesia, students mostly learn the exact science at school. The education system
pushes the student to study a lot of exact science rather than the practical skill. Each student
has the different ability to accept the material. A number of students would rather learn art
than study math or physics. If you recognize, you study more exact science than physical
sport or art during your school life. You stay at class during 5-7 hours at school and go out
for less than forty five minutes of rest time. That is why you feel so bored at class.

5. The children under 7 years old students may be sent to school

In Indonesia, most of the parents (for the middle economic people) have already sent
their children in age 3 or 4. It is because they want their children to study early. The most of
parents are obsessed to make the children become multitalented. Thus, they send their
children to musical school, mathematics school, or English course after school.

6. A lot of children and teens in Indonesia could not continue their study because of
economy
Surprisingly, while the middle economic people like to send their students to school at
early age, there are still a million of teens and children could not continue their study. The
children could not continue their study because they could not afford for the cost of
education. That is why, there are so many Children Labour in Indonesia. They are likely to
work for covering their family needs than study at school.

7. Some teachers in Indonesia are not qualified enough

The data from Ministry Education and Culture of Indonesia shows that 1,3 million
from the total of 1,6 million of teachers Indonesia got the score under 60 for the rate of the
score 0-100. The test was done for all of teachers who come from all of regions and level of
schools in Indonesia. Based on Teacher Employment & Deployment data, the distribution of
the teachers in Indonesia also doesn’t spread well. It shows that 66% of the schools in the
remote area lacks of teachers. Meanwhile the rate for the lack of teachers at city area is just
21 %.

8. It is only 7,2% of Indonesians who continue their study to college

Based on the survey of Human Resource in Indonesia, the percentage of elementary
school graduates in Indonesia is 70%, and 22,40% of them is high school graduates,
meanwhile there are just 7,2% of them is a college graduates. Indonesia human resources is
left behind Malaysia which has 20,3% of college graduates.

9. The high rate of Cheating Among Students

Cheating while doing a test is normally happen Indonesia. Not all of students in
Indonesia do cheating, but the rate of cheating in Indonesia could be categorized as high. The
recognition of honesty toward the student needs improvement. All The elements of education
are trying to resolve this problem. Honesty Canteen, Honesty stall, and honesty corner is now
exist at schools. Hopefully it could help to improve students’ honesty.

10. National Exam in Indonesia using Computer Based Test

It was since 2015 the government applied computer based test for national exam. The
system is aimed to avoid cheating among the students. Ministry of Education in Indonesia
expects this system could be an effective way to remove cheating habits in Indonesia. In
Computer Based Test (CBT) each student gets the different exam questions. The time for
doing CBT is also limited. The students will have no time to ask the answer to other students
or even cheating.
Those are ten facts of Education in Indonesia. Maybe some of you will be quite
surprised to know these facts. Although most of them are not the good news, but if you are
Indonesian and you care about the education system, you could do some useful contribution
to help it.