EDUCATION IN INDONESIA: FINANCING, CHALLENGES OF QUALITY AND ACADEMIC RESULTS IN PRIMARY EDUCATION

Indonesia, home to 273 million people, is the fourth most populous country in the world. It is also the largest archipelago on the globe. Its territory spans more than 17,000 islands that stretch for 3,181 miles along the equator between the Pacific and Indian Oceans. About 87 percent of Indonesia’s population is Sunni Muslim, making Indonesia the largest majority Muslim country in the world. Compulsory education in Indonesia faces various major educational issues such as financing, poor academic results, shortage of teachers both in rural and urban areas. These obstacles put Indonesia far from being excellent academically even with a bigger expenditure on education in the state. Throughout the research, the author tried widely draw a picture of the education system of the Republic of Indonesia as it is a part of the dissertation.