114 Mohamad Fahmi
cannot afford public school tuition fees. Excluding a few very good private
schools, the quality of most private schools is usually poor. According
to Parker (2008), private schools are more cost-efficiently managed, but,
however, they also have lower quality inputs. The educational attainment
level of the average private school teacher and principal is usually lower
and the availability of textbooks in private schools is much less than in
public schools. The formal school system is managed by the Ministry of
National Education (MNE), formerly known as the Ministry of Education
and Culture (MEC), while the religious school system, mostly Islamic, is
managed by the Ministry of Religious Affairs (MRA). Religious teaching
makes up around 40 per cent of the religious schools’ curriculum, and
the other 60 per cent of the curriculum follows the non-religious formal
school system set-up by MEC. Private Islamic schooling in Indonesia is
regarded as second class, and the poor conditions in Islamic schools are
admitted by the Indonesian government (Parker 2008).
In Indonesia, compulsory education begins at age seven and ends at
age fifteen with the central government providing free basic education
for each child. After graduating from basic education level 9 or junior
secondary education, students may continue on to upper secondary school.
At the end of primary, junior and upper secondary school, students have
to take a national examination called Ujian Nasional (UN). Public schools
and some of the elite private schools set some minimum level based on
UN as their entry requirement.
2.2 Higher Education Participation
Higher education participation rate in Indonesia steadily increased between
2001 and 2005, from 0.14 to 0.17 (Nizam 2006). Although the participation
rate in higher education is considerably lower than the primary and
secondary education rates, the rate of enrolment is still higher than other
countries such as India, Vietnam and Pakistan. Nizam (2006) attributes
the rapid growth in the enrolment rate to the solid economic growth
and the increasing global trend in participation rate in higher education.
The higher education enrolment rate in Indonesia in 2002 is higher than
some developing countries such as China (7.45 per cent) and Bangladesh
(5.25 per cent).
Despite a steady increase in enrolment rates in the past five years,
access and participation in higher education for rural populations and