Islamic kingdoms period The emergence of the Islamic state in Indonesia is noted by the acculturation of Islamic and Hindu-Buddhist traditions. During this period, the
Pondok Pesantren, a type of Islamic boarding school, was introduced. The location of pesantren is mostly far away from the hustling crowd of the city, resembling the location of Karsyan.
Dutch colonial period Elementary education was introduced in Indonesia by the
Dutch during the colonial era. The Dutch education system was a series of educational branches based on the social status of the colony's population, with the best available institutions reserved for the European population. In 1870, with the growth of the
Dutch Ethical Policy formulated by
Conrad Theodor van Deventer, some of these Dutch-founded schools opened the doors for
Pribumi (native Indonesians). They were called
Sekolah Rakjat (folk school), the predecessor of what is called
Sekolah Dasar (elementary school) today. In 1871, the Dutch parliament adopted a new education law that sought to uniform the highly scattered and diversified indigenous education systems across the archipelago and expand the number of teacher-training schools under the supervision of the colonial administration. The public school budget was raised in steps from approximately 300,000 guilders in 1864 to roughly 3 million guilders by the early 1890s. Educational development often lacked funding because many Dutch politicians feared expanding education would eventually lead to anti-colonial sentiment. Funding for education only accounted for six percent of the total expenditure of the colonial budget in the 1920s. The number of government and private primary schools for natives had increased to 3,108 and the libraries to 3,000 by 1930. However, spending sharply declined after the
economic depression in 1930. The segregation between Dutch and Indonesian people in education pushed several Indonesian figures to start educational institutions for local people.
Arab Indonesians founded
Jamiat Kheir in 1905;
Ahmad Dahlan founded
Muhammadiyah in November 1912; and
Ki Hajar Dewantara founded
Taman Siswa in July 1922 to emancipate the native population. The number of pesantrens grew rapidly during this period. During the colonial period, there was a large gap between the educated male and female population. In 1920, on the island of Java and Madura, 6.5% of the male native population were literate compared to only 0.5% of the female native population. A similar phenomenon could be observed in the Arab and Chinese population, with 26.5% of the male population being literate and only 8.5% of the female population being literate. In the outer islands beyond Java, the difference between literate male and female population was 12% and 3% out of the population respectively. •
School tot Opleiding van Inlandsche Artsen or
STOVIA, a medical university which later become
Geneeskundige Hogeschool in
Batavia. •
Nederland-Indische Artsen School or NIAS, a medical school in
Soerabaja. •
Rechts-Hoge-School, a law school in Weltevreden,
Batavia. •
De Technische Hoge-School, or THS, a technic school in
Bandoeng and the first full-fledged university in the country (opened in 1920). •
Middelbare Landbouw-school, an agriculture college which later become
Landbouwkundige Faculteit in
Buitenzorg •
Opleiding-School voor Inlandsche Ambtenaren or OSVIA, colleges for training native civil servants. •
Hollandsche-Indische Kweek-school, colleges for training teachers. By the 1930s, the Dutch had introduced limited formal education to nearly every province of the Dutch East Indies, although by this period only 7.4% of the population were literate in 1931, and 2% were fluent in Dutch. Around the outer islands beyond Java, to meet demand for schooling, the Dutch government relied heavily on missionary schools that provided a basic education.
Japanese occupation During the
Japanese occupation in
World War II, the operations of the Dutch education system were consolidated into a single operation that paralleled the Japanese education system. These schools were organized with the goal of creating the
Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere of influence and trained in military and physical drill that were anti-West oriented. The new curriculum also included indoctrination of Japanese culture and history, such as requiring students to raise the Japanese flag and bow to the Emperor every morning. The Japanese made schools less stratified; despite this, enrollment shrunk by thirty percent for primary education and ninety percent for secondary education by 1945.
Post independence After Indonesia declared
its independence in 1945, the surviving education system was fragile and unorganized. There was a shortage of teachers, as most of them had been Dutch or Japanese. Very few Indonesians had experience in managing schools. The first government of Indonesia had to create a system from scratch and reject the colonial European system. Chapter eight, article thirty-one, clause one of the
1945 constitution declared that "every citizen has the right for education". The Ministry of Education, Instruction and Culture was founded with its first minister, . The new institution sought to create an education system that was anti-discriminatory, -elitist, and -capitalist to promote nationalism of the new republic of Indonesia. It was also decided that religion deserved a proper place and attention under the new republic, resulting in an increased support for pesantren and Islamic Madrasah. In 1961, 46.7% of the population were literate. By 2008, the staff shortage in Indonesia's schools was no longer as acute as in the 1980s, but serious difficulties remained, particularly in the areas of teacher salaries, teacher certification, and finding qualified personnel. In many remote areas of the outer islands, there is a severe shortage of qualified teachers, and some villages have school buildings but no teachers, books, or supplies. ==Early education==