Indonesia EDUCATION
Elementary school children and teacher, Jember, Jawa Timur
Province
Courtesy Hermine L. Dreyfuss
College students, Jember, Jawa Timur Province
Courtesy Hermine L. Dreyfuss
The character of Indonesia's educational system
reflects its
diverse religious heritage, its struggle for a national
identity,
and the challenge of resource allocation in a poor but
developing
archipelagic nation with a young and rapidly growing
population.
Although a draft constitution stated in 1950 that a key
government
goal was to provide every Indonesian with at least six
years of
primary schooling, the aim of universal education had not
been
reached by the late 1980s, particularly among
females--although
great improvements had been made (see
table 9, Appendix).
Obstacles
to meeting the government's goal included a high birth
rate, a
decline in infant mortality, and a shortage of schools and
qualified teachers. In 1973 Suharto issued an order to set
aside
portions of oil revenues for the construction of new
primary
schools. This act resulted in the construction or repair
of nearly
40,000 primary school facilities by the late 1980s, a move
that
greatly facilitated the goal of universal education.
Data as of November 1992
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