The education divide in Indonesia: Four essays on determinants of unequal access to and quality of education

Improving access to and quality of education is necessary condition to prepare a skilled workforce to advance a country from one economic level to the next level. However, increasing access to and quality of education alone is not sufficient without equitable learning for all. Equal opportunity on education affects an individual’s life because it has the potential to improve the ability to think critically, to solve problems and to make appropriate decisions. Indonesian government simultaneously improves access to and quality of education for all citizens. Although its efforts had noticeable impact, many of the targets to improve access to and quality of education nevertheless still have not been achieved and education inequality is still persistent. This dissertation studies the complex and multifaceted phenomenon of inequality in access to and quality of education. It uses analyses drawn from a multi-level multi-resource framework involving various nation-wide surveys, administrative datasets and experts’ interview data from three non-governmental organizations in Indonesia to comprehend some of the mechanisms behind the unequal access to and quality of education. It suggests that the impact of and interplays between human, social, economic, political and infrastructural capital at the individual, household, school, community and government level are important on inequality in access to and quality of education in Indonesia