section_path: Demographics/Education
section_name: Education
paragraph_text: Education
  
  Indonesia has one of the largest education systems in the world, with over 50 million students, 4 million teachers, and more than 250,000 schools spanning the archipelago. Overseen by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Technology and the Ministry of Religious Affairs for Islamic schools, the system follows a 6-3-3-4 structure: six years of elementary school, three years each of junior and senior secondary school, and four years of tertiary education. While the literacy rate is high (96%), it is lower in rural and remote areas. Enrolment rates vary across educational levels, with near-universal enrolment in primary education (97.9%), but drop to 81.7% and 64.2% in lower and upper secondary education and around 42.6% for tertiary education.
  
  Government spending on education accounted for approximately 1.3% of GDP in 2023. In the same year, there were 4,481 higher education institutions in the country, including universities, Islamic institutions, and open universities. The University of Indonesia, Gadjah Mada University, and the Bandung Institute of Technology are the top three universities in the country, all of which rank within the world's top 300 universities.
  
  Issues regarding quality and equity are persistent, particularly urban-rural disparities, inadequate school infrastructure, and a lack of qualified teachers. The system also lags behind international benchmarks, such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), where Indonesian students consistently rank near the bottom in reading, mathematics, and science. The higher education sector has been struggling with underfunding, low quality, limited research output and a mismatch between graduates' skills and labour market needs.