The Indonesia Regional Science Association (IRSA) is an Indonesian academic organization that actively promotes the advancement of research across the country. Daniel Suryadarma, Deputy Team Leader of RISE Programme in Indonesia, participated in this event and presented his findings on the stock of highly skilled individuals in Indonesia and how they can be globally competitive.
The Indonesian learning profile states that Indonesia will be able to reach basic numeracy skill equivalent to OECD member countries in 2065; but only if the improvement rate of those countries and the industry demand rate is equivalent to Indonesia’s improvement rate. This finding is presented during the Declaration of Gernas Tastaka (National Movement to Eliminate Mathematics Illiteracy).
Infographics of the Indonesian learning profile can be accessed here.
Indonesia has been successful in increasing access to schooling. Primary school completion is practically universal, and the gap in grade nine completion rates between children from the poorest 20 percent of households and the richest 20 percent has declined from 50 percentage points to 30 percentage points between 1993 and 2009. The gap in grade 12 completion rates, while still large, has also narrowed.
Indonesia has instituted wide-ranging educational reforms over the past twenty years, but recent international assessments of student learning indicate that these reforms may not have translated into learning gains.
Between 2000 until 2015, education expenditures as a percentage of total government expenditures have almost doubled. This positively affects school enrolment which can be seen from improvement of net enrolment rates. But, learning improvement has been too slow.
Indonesia has achieved a gender-balanced, near-universal enrolment at the primary-school level. Roughly 80% of its students enrol in secondary school. Daniel Suryadarma (Deputy Team Leader of RISE Programme in Indonesia) to present on the research’s preliminary finding which shows that despite Indonesia’s high levels of school enrolment and attainment during 2000–2014, the country’s learning pace is incredibly slow.