Education

Ranking fourth globally in size after China, India and the US, Indonesia’s education system is large and varied, a complex interweaving of public and private systems all governed to some extent by centralised and decentralised government oversight. A succession of governments has seen education as one of the country’s most powerful economic levers and has formulated plans to exploit it by providing road maps for excellence in education, both public and private. Although the education system faces challenges all along the line, the reasons to continue to strive for academic excellence are many. This means introducing and promoting entrepreneurship, championing excellence in teacher training, changing the national exams system where necessary, encouraging vocational training to close the skills gap and ramping up innovation to compete in a knowledge-based economy within the AEC.

This chapter contains interviews with Anies Baswedan, Minister of Primary and Secondary Education and Culture; and Nenny Soemawinata, Managing Director, Putera Sampoerna Foundation.