National Education System

The national education system (school as well as out-of-school) consists of seven types of education, they are:

1. General education prioritizes expansion of general knowledge and improvement of skills for the students. Specialization is also needed in the last grade;
2. Vocational education prepares students in mastering a number of specific vocational skills needed for employment;
3. Special education provides important skills and abilities for students with physical and/or mental disabilities;
4. Service related education aims at increasing abilities required as a job preparation for an official or a civil servant candidate for a government department or non-department government agency to implement a certain task;
5. Religious education prepares students to play a role which demands the mastering of specific knowledge about religion and related subjects;
6. Academic oriented education focuses primarily on improving mastery of sciences; and
7. Professional education prepares students primarily to master specialized or job related knowledge and skills.

Level of Education

The formal school system consists of the following levels of education, i.e. basic education, secondary education, and higher education.  Apart from the levels of education mentioned above, pre-school education is also provided.

Pre-school education is aimed at stimulating physical and mental growth of pupils outside of the family circle before entering primary education.

The objective of pre-school education is to provide an early basis for growth and development of attitudes, knowledge, skills and initiative.

Among the types of pre-school education available are kindergarten and play groups.  Kindergartens are part of the school based education system while the play groups are part of the out-of-school system.  Pre-school is provided for children from 4 to 6 years old for a one to two years period of education, while play groups are attended by children of 3 years and below.

Basic Education

Basic education is in principle a general education of nine years, consisting of six years of primary school education and three years of junior secondary education.  The goal of basic education is to provide the students with basic skills to develop themselves as individuals, members of society, citizens and members of mankind, as well as to prepare them to pursue their study in secondary education.

Primary school provides 6-year primary education programmes. It consists of two different types of education, i.e. general primary school (SD), and special primary school for handicapped children (SDLB).

Junior secondary school programmes organize a 3-year education programme after the six year primary school programme.  It consists of two different types of education, i.e. junior secondary (general), and special junior secondary school (for handicapped children).

In addition to the types of education above, there is also an Islamic Primary School administered by the Ministry of Religious Affairs.  The Islamic Primary School (Madrasah Ibtidaiyah or Ml) is equivalent to primary school (SD), and the Islamic Junior Secondary School (Madrasah Tsanawlyah or MTs) is equivalent to junior secondary school (SLTP).

The core content of basic education curriculum consists of: Pancasila (state ideology), religion, civic education, Indonesian language, reading and writing, mathematics (including arithmetic), introduction to sciences and technology, geography, national and world history, handicraft and art, physical and health education, drawing, English, and local content.  They are not the names of subject matters, but are more in terms of studies to form personality and elements of ability which are taught and enhanced through basic education.  More than one element may be combined into one subject matter or, the other way round, one element may be developed into more than subject matter.

Secondary Education

The types of secondary education include general secondary school, vocational secondary school, religious secondary school, service secondary school, and secondary school.  General secondary education gives priority to expanding knowledge and developing students’ skills and preparing them to continue their studies to the higher level of education.  Vocational secondary education gives priority to expanding specific occupational skills and emphasizes the preparation of students to enter the world of work and expand their professional attitude.  Religious secondary education gives priority to the mastery of special religious knowledge.  Service secondary education is education which emphasizes improving the ability in the execution of service tasks of civil servants or candidates for civil service. Special secondary education is especially intended and designed for physically and/or mentally disabled students.