How does Indonesia Distribute The Spending on Education and Domestic Resource Mobilisation to Each region?

Background

Indonesia’s spending on education according to the constitutional amendment 2002 has been settled at least 20% minimum of the GDP each year (March 2013). In 2021’s budget, the ministry of education occupies the 6th position for budget allocation. This number is likely to increase from 2020 allocated by the Indonesian government for education (Ministry of Finance, 2021). As the background, Indonesia has 34 provinces located in around 83 million km and spared to the location. Thus we questioning how the government distributes the education budget to several provinces so at least it reaches distribution equality? This article will examine how the government allocates the spending for education, and how they distribute the spending to each province that has different infrastructure, needs, and backgrounds. This article will cover any criteria or pre-condition where the area gets more spending rather than others. Hence, this article will also try to cover whether the budget policy and distribution meet the needs of the particular area. Indonesia has different school levels and systems. The private and public schools, also Islamic schools under the ministry of religion. The education system in Indonesia is divided into three levels, at the first level, children come to elementary school to learn basic education for 6 years. After finishing this term, they expected to continue to junior secondary school (Sekolah Menengah Pertama) for three years and three years more for secondary school (Sekolah Menengah Atas) (BrayCite error: There are <ref> tags on this page without content in them (see the help page). et.al, 1998). The different school levels and systems come and impact their different budgeting and finance.

Budgeting Policy

The budgeting system for public schools went through the Ministry of Education. Yet, there are some ministries that also relate to Indonesia Budgeting for Education and Human Resource mobilization including the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Religion, and the National Development Planning Board (BAPPENAS). On the other side, the private Islamic school budgeting is managed by the Ministry of Religion (Clark et al, 1998). In 2021 the central government spending for education through Line minister and BA BUN around 184,6 trillion and 299,1trillion transferred to the region. This amount and allocation have different aims whether in central government or region government. The central government focuses the budget on improving quality and Indonesia's resources. While the region government focus to provide an accessible and equitable education, improving teacher welfare and IT support. Also, to support the digitalization of education (Ministry of Finance, 2021).

Domestic Resource Mobilisation

In early 1995-1995s, the financing was only divided into 3 regions, Java, Bali, and others. These two islands are central to the government, thus these areas being the government’s concern. The central government's focus is on Java and Bali, while other islands receive funding equivalent to that of Java and Bali, which are only one island (Bray, 1998). Along with the changes in financing policies, the central government now is focusing on the construction of buildings and the provision of equipment and infrastructure, while regional/municipal governments are responsible for the provision of land (ACDP,2013).

In practice, education funds are divided into two, namely general allocation funds and special allocation funds. This acceptance is based on the needs as well as the number of people per capita and the condition of regional infrastructure and students. The data shows that there are some province which gets more funding for example Kabupaten Bontang got 215 billion while Kabupaten Bandung got 5% from the allocation. This distribution depends on the requirements mentioned above.

References

1. World Bank. (2013). Indonesia - Spending More or Spending Better: Improving Education Financing in Indonesia. World Bank, Jakarta. © World Bank.

2. Ministry Of Finance Indonesia. (2021). State Budget. Jakarta.

3. Afkar Et.Al. (2020). How Indonesia’s Subnational Government Spend Their Money On Education. Washington Dc: World Bank Publisher.

4. Education Sector Analytical and Capacity Development Partnership (ACDP) (2013). General Senior Secondary Education Financing in Indonesia. Jakarta: Agency for Research and Developments (Balitbang), Ministry of Education and Culture.

5. Bray et.al. (1998). Financing of Education in Indonesia. Manilla: Asian Development Bank.