Education system and institutional setting

122 Figure 4.3: Central government education budget allocated directly to children, 2006–2010 ฀Source:฀APBN,฀various฀years;฀Ministry฀of฀Finance. 2006 60 50 40 50.0 9.3 0.7 42.8 8.2 0.9 43.0 43.4 37.5 9-year basic education Senior secondary education Early childhood education 7.5 8.7 6.6 0.9 0.8 1.3 30 20 10 Per cent 2007 2008 2009 2010 education, in practice the budget allocations for education were determined mostly by the commitment of local leaders to the development of education. A study on provincial and district city budgets showed that out of 27 districts and cities studied, 24 already allocated more than 20 per cent of their 2010 budgets to education, including some which allocated more than 30 per cent. 3 Meanwhile, at the provincial level, on average in the four provinces studied the allocations for education were less than 8 per cent The Asia Foundation, 2010 In addition to government funding, significant funding also comes from the community, particularly from parents and students. While nine years of basic education is compulsory and free, this only applies to state schools. Most of the education expenses at private schools are paid for by parents, with the amount being determined by the school’s board of trustees after consultation with the school committee. 4 In state schools, even though the government has guaranteed to cover all operational costs for basic education primary and junior secondary, a lack of funding for necessary school activities and development initiatives make it necessary for most state schools to collect some fees from parents upon consultation with school committees. These include fees for things such as books, photocopying, extracurricular activities and school maintenance. In addition, parents still have to bear some indirect expenses related to their children’s education, namely transportation costs and pocket money. A study by SMERU Hastuti et.al., 2010, for example, revealed that many children refused to go to school if their parents did not provide them with lunch money.

4.5 Educational outcomes, disparities and gender inequality

An increasing number and proportion of Indonesian children have been enrolling at schools, from early childhood education ECE up to senior secondary school. As shown in Table 4.8, during 2003–2009 the increase in enrolment rates for ECE among children 3–6 years old was the highest 5.94 percentage points per year, followed by enrolment rates among children aged 16–17 in senior secondary school 3.13 percentage points per year. But despite the notable rate of increase, the proportion of children aged 16–17 years enrolled in senior secondary school in 2009 was still relatively low at around 67.2 per cent, and the proportion enrolled in ECE was even lower, at 32.25 3 This allocation included teacher salaries, which accounted for about 80 per cent of the education budget. 4 The percentages of children enrolled at private schools in 2010 were: 18 per cent at the primary level, 32 per cent at the junior secondary level, 35 per cent at senior secondary schools, and 56 per cent at vocational secondary schools. 123 per cent. The level of enrolment for children aged 7–12 years primary school was already very high more than 95 per cent and was continuing to increase, although at a slower rate. Meanwhile, the enrolment rate for children aged 13–15 years junior secondary school achieved an impressive increase of 1.57 percentage points annually to reach 86.49 per cent in 2009. This progress has been enjoyed by approximately equivalent numbers of boys and girls. In fact, as shown in Figure 4.4, the school enrolment rates were slightly higher at each level among girls than among boys, both in 2003 and 2009. At senior secondary school, for example, the female enrolment rate in 2009 was 68.6 per cent, slightly higher than that of males at 66 per cent. Gender disparities were relatively minor compared to disparities by urbanrural residence and household wealth. Enrolment rates were consistently higher in urban areas than in rural areas, but compared to 2003 this disparity had decreased by 2009. At the senior secondary school level, for example, the enrolment rates in 2003 were 73 per cent for urban areas and 42 per cent for rural areas, while in 2009 they were 75 and 59 per cent, respectively. However, the most apparent and persistent disparities were between the richest households and the poorest ones, and the higher the level of schooling the larger the disparity. In 2009, only 41.8 per cent of children from poor households were enrolled at senior secondary schools, compared to 83.7 per cent of children from rich households. Regarding the progress of enrolment rates among children aged 3–6 years old, the government’s massive efforts, supported by donor agencies, to establish ECE in rural areas, have been reflected in the improvement in the number of children enrolled at ECE. Nationally the enrolment rate in ECE increased from 23.8 per cent in 2003 to 50 per cent in 2009, 5 with no significant percentage differences between boys and girls 49.3 and 50.8 per cent, respectively in 2009. Previously, ECE was mostly accessed by children from non-poor households, because most facilities were run privately and were too expensive for the poor. The government’s ECE programme, which focused more resources on the establishment of facilities in rural areas and targeted children from poor households, resulted in a decrease in the enrolment disparities between urban and rural areas and between the richest and poorest households. In 2003 the ECE enrolment rate for children from the poorest households was only 15 per cent compared to 44 per cent of those from the richest households. This gap narrowed in 2009, as the enrolment rate among the poorest increased faster than among the richest. Despite the progress in access to formal education, there is still inadequate access to information in the form of educational materials and communication media. Children enjoyed relatively high and increasing access to television while still lacking access to school textbooks, science books, story books, newspapers and magazines Table 4.8. A recent study shows that there was an increase in the average amount of hours children spent in front of a television each week, from 22.5 hours in 2002 to 30–35 hours in 2008 Hutapea, 2010. Longer hours spent in front of a television leave less time for reading story books, magazines and newspapers. Since Indonesia’s television has a high proportion of non child-friendly content excessive exposure may have a negative impact on child development. The study findings also indicated that watching television could be more attractive to children than reading, and this could lead to a detrimental effect on children’s long- term cognitive abilities. Although there has been solid progress during the past six years, one out of four children still has no access to school textbooks and more than half have no access to science books. In addition to this, despite some progress regarding children’s access to school textbooks and science books, there have been set backs in terms of access to story books, newspapers, magazines, art materials and displays of art. 5 It is important to note that some children aged 5–6 years old have already enrolled in primary school so that the overall school enrolment rates among children aged 3–6 years old in 2009 was higher and it stood at almost 50 percent. 124 Dimension of child poverty Education Educational materials and media 5–17 years Indicators Early Childhood Education ECE enrolment rate among children 3–6 years School enrolment rate among children 7–12 years School enrolment rate among children 13–15 years School enrolment rate among children 16–17 years School enrolment rate among children 7–17 years of children 3–6 years who never attended ECE of children 7–12 years who never enrolled in school of children 13–15 years who never enrolled in school of children 16–17 years who never enrolled in school of children 7–17 years who never enrolled in school of children 7–12 years who dropped out or discontinued DOD school of children 13–15 years who DOD school of children 16–17 years who DOD school of children 7–17 years who DOD school of children with no access to school text books of children with no access to science books of children with no access to story books of children with no access to newspapers of children with no access to magazinestabloids of children with no access to television of children with no access to radio of children with no access to art materials or art shows 2003 23.78 96.25 79.04 56.59 84.44 76.22 2.15 0.82 0.59 1.53 1.6 20.14 42.82 13.63 40.12 81.88 82.15 90.54 90.72 9.51 51.92 88.53 2009 32.25 97.05 86.49 67.21 89.21 67.75 1.9 0.84 0.7 1.42 1.05 12.67 32.09 9.37 25.06 66.45 84.91 95 95.19 6.23 83.42 92.4 Average annual change 5.94 0.14 1.57 3.13 0.94 -1.85 -1.94 0.41 3.11 -1.20 -5.73 -6.18 -4.18 -5.21 -6.26 -3.14 0.56 0.82 0.82 -5.75 10.11 0.73 Source:฀฀Estimated฀using฀data฀from฀the฀2003฀and฀2009฀SUSENAS฀Panel,฀except฀for฀deprivation฀information฀from฀2003฀and฀2009฀ SUSENAS. Table 4.8: Progress in children’s access to formal education, 2003 and 2009 The school dropout and discontinuation DOD rates for children aged 16–17 years are still at alarming levels. During 2003–2009, the DOD rate among children aged 7–12 years was decreasing and it achieved a very low level of 1.05 per cent in 2009. The DOD rate for children aged 13–15years was also declining at an even faster rate, dropping from 20 per cent in 2003 to 12.67 per cent in 2009. However, among children aged 16–17 years, despite the significant rate of decrease of around 1.78 percentage points per year, the DOD rate was still quite high at 32 per cent in 2009, meaning that approximately one out of three children in this age group dropped out of school that year. As depicted in Figure 4.5, in 2009, among children of all ages, the DOD rate started to increase among children around 12 years of age – the age that most graduate from primary school – and further steeply increased between the ages of 16 and 19 years – the senior secondary school age, after which the rate of increase declined but the rate of DOD remained high during the university years. The figure also reveals that quite a large proportion of children that dropout or discontinue schooling, especially males, engage in paid employment instead. From around the age of 15, it’s clear that an increasing number of girls choose work instead of school, probably as domestic workers. This data also reflects the relatively low rates of child labour, as discussed further in Chapter 5, section 5.4.2. There are many contributing factors, but overwhelmingly the main reason given for children dropping out or discontinuing school is an inability to afford the cost, or poverty. Figure 4.6 presents the reasons for discontinuation after completing junior secondary school instead of continuing to senior secondary school. More than 60 per cent of male and females aged 16–18 years who had not enrolled in senior secondary school in both rural and urban areas confessed that financial difficulty was the main reason. It is not surprising that many students are forced to drop out of school after junior secondary school, 125 33.8 Per cent 3-6 Years ECE 3-6 Years ECE 7-12 Years 7-12 Years 13-15 Years 13-15 Years 16-17 Years 16-17 Years Poorest Q1 Richest Q5 2003 2009 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 Figure 4.4: Progress of school enrolment rates among girls and boys, in urban and rural areas, and from the poorest and richest household quintiles, 2003 and 2009 Source:฀Estimated฀using฀data฀from฀the฀2003฀and฀2009฀SUSENAS฀Panel 3-6 Years ECE 3-6 Years ECE 7-12 Years 7-12 Years 13-15 Years 13-15 Years 16-17 Years 16-17 Years Per cent Per cent 23.0 96.0 77.9 53.5 49.3 96.7 85.2 66.0 24.6 96.6 80.2 59.7 50.8 97.4 87.9 68.5 Boys Girls 2003 2009 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 3-6 Years ECE 3-6 Years ECE 7-12 Years 7-12 Years 13-15 Years 13-15 Years 16-17 Years 16-17 Years Urban Rural 2003 2009 17.2 98.3 95.0 89.8 72.3 73.2 42.4 53.2 47.4 98.0 96.3 90.8 82.9 94.1 75.0 41.9 59.4 83.7 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 44.4 99.2 61.2 93.2 31.9 81.2 46.1 59.1 94.7 98.5 74.5 15.0 93.7