Indonesian Education System Essay

A Broad Look on Education System in Indonesia

From the first Hindu “schools” to today’s modern national and international schools, schools in Indonesia had always existed to guide and smarten those deemed worthy to receive it. However, throughout most of its history, education is somewhat restricted towards only a few belligerents; low to medium literacy rates in Indonesia is common, before the advent of Taman Siswa and similar education institutions in 1922.

Education in Indonesia starts as Karsyan “schools” in the early Hindu-Buddhism kingdoms, which is a school that is usually in the deep countryside. Students isolate themselves in order to reach a more profound understanding of their own religion in a form of meditation. As such, this is usually a form of self teaching (autodidact), and was limited to only the Brāhmaṇa caste of the entire population in Indonesia, and is very limited to spiritual and religious learning. In the Islāmic Kingdom times, the Karsyan schools evolved into “pesantren”, which is similar to Karsyan schools in a way that they are in the countryside, but they teach more than just religious knowledge and go the extra mile to teach students or “santri” character and vocational

This is due to the immediate state of war between Indonesian central government and the allied forces and (later on) insurgents. The fledgling government has its hands full with the security of its own territory so much that they cannot allocate much into educations sector. That is why at this period “true” (as in, education that is pure knowledge transfer and not influenced by other motives) education in Indonesia is almost nonexistent except for a few remote “pesantren” scattered throughout Indonesia and federal schools at the Papuan