Schooling in Indonesia: Crisis-related and longer-term issues

Though Indonesia had been making considerable progress in expanding its education system before the economic crisis broke in 1997, 30% of children were still failing to complete primary school, and the quality of education was far from satisfactory. The economic crisis threatened to lead to massive dropout, and social safety net programs were therefore introduced. This paper outlines issues facing primary and secondary education before and during the crisis, assesses the extent to which the social safety net programs have helped to limit dropout, and discusses longer-term issues in achieving the goal of nine years' universal basic education, raising educational quality and achieving increased equity of access.