REALITY OF EDUCATION
The spirit of education for all is in line with the mandate of Law No. 20 of 2003 which states that "Every citizen has the same right to obtain quality education", but in reality the gap in access to education and the gap in quality of education remains a challenge that must be faced by Indonesia. The gap in access to education is evidenced by the Net Participation Rate which is still low influenced by the economic capacity of the family. The high dropout rate, especially during the transition from junior high school to senior high school, is due to the scarcity of senior high schools at the sub-district level, in addition to the burden of education costs that must be borne by poor families will increase as the level of education increases.
Indonesia's vast archipelago makes disparities in education quality unavoidable. The quality of infrastructure, teachers, and schools, as evidenced by the uneven accreditation of schools across Indonesia, contributes to the low quality of national education. Even if the poor have access to educational services, if the quality is inadequate, the resulting human resources will not meet expectations for competing in the labor market, ultimately making it difficult to escape the cycle of poverty.
From the perspective of basic services provided by the government to the community, education services can be contextualized within the interaction of demand and supply factors for education services. Demand factors include the affordability of education costs and the need for quality education. For the poor, eliminating tuition fees does not necessarily guarantee their continued schooling because there are other costs that must be paid, such as transportation, books, school uniforms, etc. Furthermore, there is the potential value of family income when children help out at home. Therefore, the government must be more careful in examining the potential other costs arising from the education process. Furthermore, opportunities for access to education must be accompanied by improvements in the quality of education to obtain skills that can improve the lives of poor families. Low-quality education is a poverty trap in itself.
The government's efforts to advance education in Indonesia are evidenced by various programs to improve access and quality of education, including non-personal financing programs in the Special Allocation Fund for Education (DAK) and the School Operational Assistance (BOS) and Regional School Operational Assistance (BOS) funds. This is also supported by personal financing through the Smart Indonesia program and the Family Hope Program. The Article 33 research team estimates, based on a simulation of school BOS fund usage, that the current BOS unit cost is approximately 20% short of the national standard. In the simulation, it was assumed that schools would use 15% of BOS funds for teacher honorariums and school infrastructure.
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SOME BREAKTHROUGHTS
This study on the gap in access to quality education for the poor was initiated by Article 33 Indonesia to contribute to public discussions and to find solutions to the problem of unequal access to education for the poor, particularly to quality education, and to encourage more affirmative policy changes for the poor. The study also received support from the Education Offices of Bogor, Malang, and Makassar.
There are several breakthroughs suggested by Article 33 Indonesia in an effort to equalize the quality of education by improving the quota for poor students through massive policy socialization, accountability in the student admission process, consideration of proximity to residential locations and school readiness to accept poor students who are academically deficient to reduce the gap between students.
Another breakthrough is the charter school method, where government-owned schools are professionally run by the private sector. Charter schools are generally located in low-income areas and offer higher quality than regular public schools. The admission process is conducted through a lottery, giving everyone an equal chance of admission regardless of academic background. If a country has strong education funding, it can apply another method, the entrusted school method, which focuses on improving school quality, especially in rural areas. It provides budget incentives for superior schools or teams to support weaker schools through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) detailing technical assistance for learning and improving performance in both management and teaching.
The latest breakthrough offered is the Bundled School Management method, where new schools replicate superior schools with the same teaching staff, curriculum design, assessment system, and training, or school development programs in developing areas, incorporating new accommodations or providing new accommodations for existing schools. Some subject integration is also necessary for a more flexible and integrated curriculum. This method aims to offer more creative and flexible teaching and learning.
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