Dear Suara MBE,

With the assistance from the staff at the MBE Project in Jakarta, I, as a Public Policy student at the National University of Singapore visited primary schools in Banyuwangi and Probolinggo in July 2004 as part of my field work on education information flow in Indonesia after decentralization.

As a result of my visit there and interaction with experienced MBE staffs, principals, teachers and school committee members, I have gained tremendous insights about the effects of decentralization on education in Indonesia. I have debts of gratitude to many people from the MBE office and would like to extend my warmest thanks via this letter.

During my visit to schools there, I find that the interest of the members from the school committee and parents to learn more about new innovations, best practices, teaching method and so forth in other districts as well as other countries is very high. For example, they keep asking me about how's the education realities in Malaysia and Singapore.

I regretted that I could not tell them more during my visit then, however, I would like to take this opportunity to give them a general comparative view about the different education realities in the region. While reading this, please bear in mind that Indonesia is a unique and heterogeneous country

and whatever that is done in one country may not be apply directly to Indonesia as the income, political economy, history, socio-economy, size, population as well as resources available are different among the countries compared. However, it may be interesting for some to know where Indonesia is compared to other countries in the region. Here's what I found out:

All data is for the year of 2002 unless otherwise indicated. When one is looking at these data, one has to be careful in drawing conclusion prematurely since the capacity to generate revenue and expenditure priorities of each government is quite different.

For more information about the education profile of each country, please visit:

http://devdata.worldbank.org/edstats/cd1.asp

I have also included these education links for Suara MBE's readers who may be interested in learning more about the education system in other countries:

Malaysia - Ministry of Education

http://www.moe.gov.my/english/

Thailand - Ministry of Education

http://www.moe.go.th/English/

Philippines - Department of Education

http://www.deped.gov.ph/about_deped/history.asp

Overall, I find that SBM, PAKEM and the idea of Community Participation was well received by all MBE schools that I have visited. In fact, some of the non-MBE schools are also following this method after learning it from other training sessions, school visits, and the KKKS and KKG meetings. In some districts, there are even 'Parents Communication Forum' where school committees get together and share information about schools and education issues.

I am very impressed by the energy and enthusiasm of the principals and school committee members. With such willingness to share information and ideas, if coupled wit greater transparency and accountability in the education system, it is very likely that the quality of the Indonesian education will improve and could stay relevant to the economical needs of the region.

Yours Sincerely
Angela KHOO Pek Ne
Student, Master of Public Policy
Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy
National University of Singapore
5 Arts Link Level 6
Singapore 117570

Population (millions)

211.7

80

62

24

GNI per capita
(Atlas Method, Current USD$)

710

1,030

2,000

3,540

Poverty
(Headcount Index, %, $1 per day)

7.2%
(15.5 million)

11.5%
(9.1 million)

2.4%
(1.5 million)

< 0.5%

Adult Literacy
(age 15 and above, %, 2001)

87.9%

92.6%

92.6%

88.7%

Achieved Universal Primary Education
(Primary Completion Rate)

93%

90%

91%

N.A.

Public Expenditure on Education in 2001
(% of GDP)

1.3 %

3.2%

5.4%

7.9%

Public Expenditure per student
(% of per capita GDP)

    - Primary

3.7%

11.8%

17.2%

17%

    - Secondary

7.3%

9.4%

13%

27.5%

    - Tertiary

21%

13.9%

32%

83.5%

Primary pupil-teacher ratio

20.9 : 1

35.4 : 1

19.1 : 1

19.6 : 1

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