Education in Indonesia

Education in Indonesia falls under the responsibility of the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education (Kementerian Pendidikan Dasar dan Menengah, or Kemendikdasmen), the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Technology (Kementerian Pendidikan Tinggi, Sains, dan Teknologi, or Kemendikti Saintek) and the Ministry of Religious Affairs (Kementerian Agama, or Kemenag). In Indonesia, all citizens must undertake twelve years of compulsory education. This consists of six years at the elementary level and three years each at the middle and high school levels. Islamic, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist and Confucian schools are under the responsibility of the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

Education is defined as a planned effort to establish a study environment and educational process so that the student may actively develop their own potential in various domains. The Constitution also notes that there are two types of education in Indonesia: formal and non-formal. Formal education is further divided into three levels: primary, secondary and tertiary education.

Schools in Indonesia are run either by the government (negeri) or private sectors (swasta). Some private schools refer to themselves as "national plus schools", which means that their curriculum exceeds requirements set by the Ministry of Education, especially by using English as the medium of instruction or having an international-based curriculum instead of the national one. In Indonesia there are approximately 170,000 primary schools, 40,000 junior-secondary schools, and 26,000 high schools. Eighty-four percent of these schools are under the Ministry of Education and Culture and the remaining sixteen percent under the Ministry of Religious Affairs.