Education As The Key To National Progress: Is Indonesia Falling Behind?

Education plays a crucial role in the progress of a nation. Nelson Mandela, the former president of South Africa, famously said, "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." Unfortunately, the quality of education in Indonesia currently lags behind neighboring countries like Singapore and Malaysia. According to a statement from President Joko Widodo on the Presidential Secretariat's YouTube channel, he expressed concern about Indonesia's global rankings in education and health, which stand at 57th and 58th, respectively. "Although our competitiveness rose by seven levels, which is a great achievement, education and health remain stuck at low rankings," he said on Thursday, July 11, 2024.

A country's education quality can be measured by various factors, including school accreditation, human resource competitiveness, school completion rates, graduation rates, and early childhood education enrollment. In Indonesia, many children are still forced to drop out of school, with some never attending at all, primarily due to economic challenges. Many parents struggle to afford higher education for their children, choosing instead to send them to work with only basic qualifications.

The government must take immediate and effective action to improve education quality in Indonesia. One of the strategies to address this issue is by promoting educational equity, such as offering scholarships to underprivileged children, ensuring that economic disparities do not hinder access to education.

Data from the National Socio-Economic Survey (Susenas), conducted by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) in March 2023, involving 345,000 households across 34 provinces and 514 districts/cities in Indonesia, reveals that the highest percentage of graduates are from high schools, at 30.22%. This is followed by elementary school graduates at 24.62% and junior high school graduates at 22.74%. Alarmingly, only 10.15% of the population has attained a college education. Additionally, 9.01% of the population did not complete primary school, and 3.25% have never attended school. These figures highlight the pressing challenges the government must address to ensure equitable access to education across the country. Hopefully, in the future, all Indonesians will have easier access to higher levels of education.