Education

From Dimitri and Morgan
1. Is the education system similar to ours?
2. Are their private schools?


ANSWER: Well...kinda. In the U.S. mostly everyone finishes high school and it's mandatory in most states for children to attend school up to the age of 16. Here in Indonesia, children are required to attend school for nine years, 6 years in elementary and 3 in middle school. Education here is divided into three categories: primary, secondary and tertiary education.

Primary education consists of kindergarten and elementary school. Most kindergartens are private and are not mandatory, it's just preparing them for elementary school. Kindergarten is divided into Class A and Class B classes and each student spends a year in each one. Since kindergarten is not mandatory, most people have to pay for it so this explains why there are about 99% of classes being private school. Most children start kindergarten at age 3. Between the ages of 6-11, kids must attend elementary school as mandated by the constitution. Most elementary schools are government operated public schools but there are some private schools and students must study for 6 years to complete this level. Some schools offer accelerated learning programs so that students may finish in five. After graduating elementary school students move into secondary education which they must attend for 3 years, normally from the age of 12-14. After this, it's completely optional for students to attend high school or college, they can just stop going to school.

High school is also divided into 2 types of school, the SMA or SMK. Since it is not required for students to attend high school, there are only about 9,000 high schools in all of Indonesia. The students at SMA are being prepared to attend university where the students at SMK plan to go to work after school instead of attending college. High schools is part of their secondary education.

Tertiary education is college, university or institute education. There is public and private education much like the U.S. and students can obtain degrees as high as doctorate. Public universities are funded by the government and are governed as self-managed institutions. A lot of students leave the country to obtain degrees and this isn't just for Indonesia. I have a good friend from Malaysia who is studying in Sydney Australia for a double Masters Degree.

The difference I see in the schools here and the ones in the U.S. is that no matter if the student attends public or private schools, they all wear uniforms (see photo).