MADRASAH Part 1

INTRODUCTION
I.1 Indonesia at a Glance

Indonesia is the largest island nation in the world. Its 17,000 islands form an archipelago that bridges the continents of Australia and Asia. The total landmass, which includes five major islands, is 2 million square kilometers. Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world after China, India, and the United States. In 1999, its estimated population was 210 million, up from 179 million in 1990. The average annual rate of population growth was 2.1 percent during the 1980s, but it declined to 1.5 percent by 1999. The rate is projected to decline slightly further to 1.4 percent by 2005. In absolute terms, this means that the Indonesian population grew by around 3.2 million persons per year between 1990 and 1998, and will increase by roughly 3 million annually until 2005.
By year 2001, children below the age of five will number 22 million, or 10 percent of the population and the school-age children (5 to 14 years) will number 40 million, or 19 percent of the total population. Today, one in every five Indonesians is a teenager, and, in 2001, the number of adolescents will be 44 million. As Indonesia’s population is aging, children under age 15 as a percentage of the total population have decreased from 44 percent in 1971 to 36 percent in 1990; while in 2001, children under 15 years of age will account for just 29 percent of the population.
Java and Bali are home to 60 percent of the total population, but represent only 7 percent of the total land area of the country. The Eastern islands that comprise Nusa Tenggara, Sulawesi, The Mollucas and West Papua support 21 percent of the population, but account for 69 percent of the country’s land area. From 1971 to 1990 (when the latest National census was conducted), annual urban growth rates were consistently double those of the total population.
Indonesia has the largest number of Muslims as of any country. Its population is made up of 300 ethnically distinct groups who speak a multitude of local languages and practice four major religions (Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism). Divided into 26 provinces, Indonesia derives its identity from both regionality and heterogeneity. Whether in economic, geographic, religious, cultural or ethnic terms, Indonesia has a pronounced diversity.
The country’s heterogeneity was heavily influenced by centuries of trade with Indians, Chinese, Arabs and much later with Europeans, who introduced a variety of religions, languages, customs and other forms of material expression that are manifested in the country’s diverse ethnic cultures. Although local languages are still used in many areas, a National language based on Malay has been the official language since the country’s Independence. According to the 1990 census, 87 percent of the people are Muslim. While Islam and other formal religions are practiced, however, many groups continue their adherence to customary beliefs, tradition, and laws, known as adat. Practices relating to marriage and divorce, inheritance and land resource management are often still governed by adat law. 
From roughly the seventh to the 14th century, Indonesia had a number of powerful Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms like Sriwijaya and Majapahit that exerted influence throughout Southeast Asia. Beginning in the 15th century, Islam gained dominance. The 16th century saw the arrival of Europeans, mainly Portuguese and Dutch, who competed to capture the lucrative spice trade routes. The Dutch emerged victorious and gained sovereignty over the islands known as the Dutch East Indies for 350 years, ( except for brief interludes of control by the British during Napoleonic Wars and by the Japanese during World War II) until Independence was declared in 1945. 
The first two decades of post-independence under President Soekarno (known as old order) were focused on unifying the country politically. However, economic and social conditions were difficult; for most people, the life span was short, disease was prevalent and food was in short supply. In 1965 a coup by alleged communist forces was suppressed, a period of anarchy and conflict followed in which thousands of people were killed. General Soeharto took command and enforced military rule, generally known as New Order 
After being elected President by the country’ provisional parliament in 1968, Soeharto embarked on efforts to strengthen and stabilize the economy. Social development programs aimed at improving food self-sufficiency and expanding education and health services, matched by long-term schemes for exploitation of natural resources such as oil and minerals. This strategy led to more than two decades of much-heralded social and economic achievements.
Today, however, with the erosion of government spending for social programs and widespread poverty stemming from the current economic crisis has, at least temporarily, undermined the decades of progress. Combined with growing disillusionment about exploitations of the “New Order” regime, the crisis led to massive protest and rioting that forced out Soeharto from office on 21 May 1998. A reform movement and calls for a more open and democratic system by an increasingly better informed and self-confident polity led to the country’s first multi – party freely contested election in nearly 40 years on 7th June 1999. A dramatic Presidential contest in the National legislature in October and election of a credible reform administration and cabinet under President Abdurrahman Wahid and Vice-President Megawati Soekarnoputri followed this election.

I.2. Education Sector in Indonesia
The National Education System of Indonesia is generally aimed at elevating the intellectual life of the Nation and developing the Indonesian people fully, i.e. as people who are devoted to God, have knowledge and skills, are in good physical and spiritual health, are independent and fair, and feel responsible for their countrymen and Nation. The education system is organized in two different paths, i.e. school and out-of-school education. School education is organized in schools through teaching and learning activities that are gradual, hierarchical, and continuous. Out-of-school education is organized outside the formal schooling through teaching and learning activities that may or may not be hierarchical and continuous. Education within the family constitutes an important part of the out-of-school education and provides religious, cultural and moral values and the family’s skills.
A complex array of institutions provides and delivers education in Indonesia. It caters to approximately 45 million students at all levels. The largest player is the Ministry of National Education (MONE), which administers formal public and private schools and universities, as well as non-formal modes of education. The educational efforts of Ministry of National Education are supplemented by Ministry of Religious Affairs (MORA) that is responsible for development of Madrasah Education which also imparts general education besides the religious education. Accordingly the basic education is also delivered under the MORA through Madrasahs and Pesantren. Islamic Primary Schools called Madrasah Ibtidaiyah (MI) are equivalent to primary schools (or SD) and Islamic Junior Secondary Schools called Madrasah Tsanawiyah (MTs) are equivalent to General Junior Secondary School (SLTP). An MI provides 30 percent of the curriculum for religious teachings and 70 percent for general course of the same standard as of general SD. MI’s certificates are equally honored as those SD’s. MI students can transfer to SD and MI graduates can pursue their junior secondary education to SLTP. MTs and Pesantren at the JSS level provide the whole of general junior secondary curriculum with religious teaching as their local contents of the National curriculum.

I.3 The Education Delivery System in Indonesia and Its Organizational Structure
The national formal education system consists of three main levels of education, i.e. basic education, secondary education, and higher education. Pre-school education is also provided to a limited proportion of children (see figure 1.1). The school education is provided both by governmental and non-governmental agencies as well as by the community. Basic education is a general education of nine years, i.e. six years of primary and three years of junior secondary school. Basic Education is a compulsory education aimed at providing the learners with basic knowledge and skills. Junior secondary education consists of two different types of schools i.e. general junior secondary schools and vocational junior secondary junior secondary schools. The goal of basic education is to develop students as individuals, members of society, citizens and members of mankind, as well as to prepare them to pursue study in secondary education. Of the 29.45 million children enrolled in primary schools, about 82 percent attend public institutions largely financed through the Ministry of Home Affairs, 6 percent attend private schools, 1 percent attend the public Madrasah Ibtidaiyah and 11 percent attend private Madrasah Ibtidaiyahs .
In the MTs, pupils receive an education broadly similar to that in the public primary schools. They follow largely the same academic curriculum but with more emphasis on religious studies, including elementary Arabic. Most of madrasahs and pesantren are being developed to combine the teaching of religion and Koran with the modern sciences in a single educational institution. Because they were originally religious educational institutions, the MORA is administering them, while the MONE is administering general schools. However, there are still religious schools that do not include “secular” subjects as part of their curriculum. These religious schools are given the name of Madrasah Diniyah and Salafiyah. 
Secondary education is available to graduates of both primary schools and MIs. The paths of secondary education include general secondary school, vocational secondary school, religious secondary school, service-related secondary school, and special secondary school. Secondary education gives priority to expanding knowledge and developing students’ skills and preparing them to continue their studies to the higher level of education or the preparation of students to enter the world of work and expanding their professional attitude. The length of junior secondary education is three years. The senior secondary schools take another three years. In addition to the general secondary schools, there are also Islamic General Senior Secondary Schools called Madrasah Aliyah (MA), equivalent to general Secondary Schools. 
At the senior secondary level, in 1995, of the total of over 4.67 million pupils, 49 percent were in private schools, 40 percent in public schools, and 4 percent in public madrasah aliyah, and 6 percent in private. At senior secondary level, both the public and private schools are further divided into general schools (Sekolah Menengah Umum-SMU) and vocational schools (Sekolah Menengah Kejuruan-SMK) of several types, in which about 1.65 million pupils follow vocationally oriented curricula.
Higher education is an extension of secondary education, mainly aimed at mastering arts, humanities, sciences, technology, and research work, whereas professional education is mainly aimed at developing knowledge and practical skills for specific professions. Institutions involved in higher education are of several types: academics, polytechnics, school of higher learning, institutes, and universities. The duration of higher education is three years for diploma program (D3) and four years for under graduate program (S1). After under graduate program, students can continue to master program for two years (S2) and finally to doctorate program for additional three years (S3). Higher education includes several levels of study programs. Of the 2.65 million tertiary students, 32 percent were in public universities, 55 percent in private universities, and 10 percent in public and 3 percent in private university-level Islamic Institute (Institut Agama Islam Negeri-IAIN).
Pre-school education aims at stimulating physical and mental growth of children outside the family circle before entering primary education that can be held in formal school system or out-of-school education. Among the types of pre-school education available are kindergarten at the formal school and play groups and day-care centers at the out-of-school. Kindergarten is provided for children age 5 to 6 years for one to two years, while play groups and daycare centers are attended by children at least 3 year old.
The type of out-of-school education consists of general education, religious education, service-related education, and vocational education. Out-of-school education may include courses, group learning such as packet A, B, Income Generating Program, or any other option like apprenticeship.

I. 4 The National Policy Towards Basic Education 
The government of Indonesia (GOI) had put special efforts for the development of basic education from the beginning of The First 25 Year Development Plan (PJP I) in early 1970s. Further accelerated level of investment was made for the development of primary education at the beginning of the Second Five-year Development Plan (Repelita II). Using revenue from the 1973 oil windfall, GOI initiated a large primary school construction program, channeled through the Presidential Instructions Block Grant for primary schools, (called the INPRES SD). 
By 1978, significant results of the expansion of primary education were achieved. Indonesia was able to achieve the primary school participation rate of 88.6 percent, at the end of the Third Five-year Development Plan (Repelita III). This achievement had encouraged the government to design the six-year universal basic education at the beginning of the Fourth Five-year Development Plan (Repelita IV). The objective of the six-year universal basic education was to increase the participation rate of schooling at the primary level for the population at the age of 7 to 12 years old to 100 percent. The government targeted that the basic education should be universalized at the end of Repelita V. Finally on the National Education Day on May 2 1984, the Indonesian President issued a decree for six-year universal basic education. This program requires government to provide the whole basic education infrastructure at the elementary level. Consequently at the end of Repelita V, Indonesia had achieved the enrolment rate of 93.5 percent in primary education. This achievement encourage Indonesian government to extend basic education to 9 years compulsory education i.e. six years of primary education plus 3 years junior secondary education. 
The decision to expand junior secondary education participation as rapidly as feasible is justified for several reasons. First, expansion appears to be a precondition for the rapid growth of the Indonesian economy in the medium term. Recent research on the development of East Asian economies indicates that, after the achievement of near universal primary education, the secondary (junior and senior) education has had a strong impact on economic growth, Secondary education plays the role of providing educated entrants to the labor force, enhancing the trainability of workers, and providing qualified inputs into higher levels of education. Social rates of return to education computed from 1986-92 indicate that returns to junior secondary education are the highest among the education subsectors.

1.5. The Present Level of Access to Basic Education and Its Distribution by Income Levels
Since the implementation of the universal six-year and adoption of nine-year basic education policy in Indonesia, there have been considerable achievements. There has been rapid increase in the net enrolment rate, which has reached 93 percent for primary school and 59 percent for the junior secondary level. However, problems of equity and quality remain, which are mainly related to differences in socio-economic status of parents and geographical locations since Indonesia is an archipelago where level of development varies considerably across regions. The President declared the Nine-Year Basic Education in 1994 mandatory and set the goal of achieving a 100 percent gross enrolment rate at junior secondary level by the year 2013. Encouraged by progress in this area, in 1996 the government advanced the target year to 2008.
The strategy to enroll all children of junior secondary school age involves a mixed educational program of conventional formal junior secondary schools (SLTPs and MTs/Madrasah Tsanawiyah), open SLTPs and non-formal junior secondary education (known as Paket B or Package B). The ‘Package B’ system does not charge school fees and is intended to facilitate access for children from remote areas and poor families. The policy of basic education seems to be effective in giving boys and girls equal access at both primary and junior secondary levels. However, the difference in enrolment between urban and rural children at junior secondary level is significant, implying the need for expanding the public community in education to rural areas more rapidly and effectively.
It can also be noted that net enrolment ratio in junior secondary schools for the children from lowest quintile of income group is less than 50 percent. The difference in enrolment between the lowest and the highest quintile of income group is almost two fold.

1.6. Internal Efficiency: Repetition, Dropouts and Non-completion
The basic education system has significant levels of students’ repetition, dropping out, and non-completion. This situation, characteristic of the system since the First Five-year Plan (REPELITA I), is caused among other things such as inadequate facilities, underpaid teachers and lack of parental support, mainly due to poverty. The Government has been systematically trying to reduce the incidence of repetition and dropping out. For example, efforts have been made to abolish tuition fees in both primary and junior secondary schools. However, this reduces only part of the burden (about 10 percent) because parents still must pay fees for Parents-Teachers Association) contributions, uniforms, supplementary textbooks and other necessities.

Dropout rates (DOR) at primary and junior secondary levels do not seem to have been affected by the crisis. From 1994-1998, the DOR steadily decreased. However, taking not-enrolled children and dropout students into consideration, there are still, on average, 1.6 million and 4.8 million children of the relevant age group who are not in primary and junior secondary schools, respectively. In some provinces, such as Irian Jaya and Maluku, drop-out rates are influenced heavily not only by economic factors but also by conditions such as political turbulence and remote geographical location of schools, which means it is difficult to make universal policy interventions for educational improvement in many areas.

1.7. Private Sector in Education in Indonesia
At the primary level the role of private sector in providing education is relatively small (17 percent of enrolment), though in some provinces it is substantial. The provinces in which private sector role is substantial are Jakarta (24 percent), North Sulawesi (25 percent), Maluku (24 percent), East Nusa Tenggara (44 percent), and Papua (43 percent). However, private sector plays an important role at the junior secondary level, where it represents 40 percent of total enrolment (Indonesian Educational Statistics in Brief, MOEC, 1993/4). At the senior secondary level, private education institutions absorb more than 50 percent of enrolment while over time. The private role has been growing at tertiary level. Private sector accounts for 65-57 of enrolment tertiary level.
There are three operators of private schools, i.e. local communities, Islamic groups, and teachers’ associations called PGRI. Other groups such as Catholic organizations and large enterprises have a smaller participation in numerical terms. Before establishing the school, the operator to be begins by seeking a favorable ruling on the part of MONE and local government officials at the subdistrict level. If the officials perceive that there are a large enough number of primary school graduates have no access to a public school, they can apply through a non profit association (yayasan) and get approval from the head of MONE at province level. Normally, it takes about 9 months for the process to be completed.
Directorate of Private Schools of MONE supervises and gives accreditation to these private schools. A newly established school is classified as listed and a review for potential upgrading of its status takes place three years later, when the school has produced its first graduates. Depending on the results, the school may retain the “listed” status or be promoted to a higher category. Presently about 9 percent of private schools are in the “equivalent” category, 56 percent are “recognized,” 25 percent are “registered” and the remaining 10 percent are “listed.”
According to the information obtained from Directorate of Private Schools of MONE, “equivalent” schools are in general owned and operated by religious organizations and large enterprises. While a few of them are owned and operated by PGRIs. “Recognized” schools are in general owned and operated by teachers’ associations and non-profit organization while a few of them are owned by religious organizations. “ Registered” schools are generally owned and operated by PGRIs and other non-profit organization, while a large number also belong to small town and village communities. Finally, “listed” schools are in general owned and operated by small rural communities that do not have a public school in the community itself or at a nearby location (World Bank, 1998).
The government provides subsidy for junior secondary private schools in the form of textbook provision to students and grants for schools’ operational cost. It was estimated in 1993/94 that the need of textbook for students was 31 million and 1 million teacher guides. Actual distribution during 1993/94 –1995/96 amounted to 15.5 million textbooks and 0.3 million teacher guides. The government could only serve half of the private school students with the textbook, and one-third of the teachers’ requirement. Public subsidy for operational cost is granted to both SMP and madrasah schools and is in the form of a flat amount per classroom. The amount granted per classroom was Rp. 480,000 in 1994/95 and it covered 18,363 classroom (Word Bank, 1998). The amount of subsidy was reduced to Rp. 300,000 per classroom while the number of subsidized classrooms tripled. At the same time, the total amount of subsidy almost double (from Rp. 8.8 billion in 1994/95 to Rp. 16.1 billion in 1995/96)