An Explorative Inquiry on Educational Decentralisation in Bantul District, Jogjakarta, Indonesia

For a prolonged period of time, Indonesia implemented a centralised education system which was characterised by the dominant role of the Ministry of National Education in making education policy. In 1999, Indonesia introduced two decentralisation laws: (a) Law No.22/1999 on regional government; and (b) Law No.25/1999 on fiscal balance between the central government and the local governments. These laws devolves central government authority and responsibilities to local governments in all fields except foreign policy, defense and security, justice, monetary, debt, fiscal matters, and religious affairs, including in education sector. This study provides an analysis of the implementation of educational decentralization based on in-depth interviews with a sample of 27 purposively selected participants. This study presents three themes in which educational decentralisation are conducted: education management, curriculum development, and stakeholders’ participation. Interviews results suggest that local government now has more authority and responsibility over education which enables the determination and implementation of education policies relevant to local need. It is however, the Central Government through the Ministry of Education (MONE) still retains a large portion of authority and responsibility for educational curriculum. Evaluation on participation of educational stakeholders indicates that the education stakeholders had played a significant role in education following decentralisation