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Education as a Human Right

The right to education has been universally recognized as a human right for decades, particularly since the adoption of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR), which lays the groundwork for the notions that education, as a human right, shall be made free, especially at the elementary level, and that higher education shall be made equally accessible on merit basis.^[1] The  international legal framework on the right to education is then further elaborated in various human rights treaties adopted later after UDHR namely, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) Article 13 and 14; the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) Article 28 and 29; and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) Article 24.

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) elaborates some essential elements of availability, accessibility, acceptability and adaptability of education to be considered by all State Parties to the ICESCR in the implementation of the right to education in respective countries.

While, Indonesia has been a State Party to the ICESCR since 2005 and, therefore, it is bound by all the obligations stipulated in the Covenant, including the obligations towards to respect, protect and fulfill the right of all Indonesians to education. Moreover, the right to education is also guaranteed in the 1945 Constitution,  particularly in Article 31, which not only recognizes education as a right, but also lays the obligation of the State to allocate a minimum of 20% of the State Budget to provide education for all.

^[1] See, UDHR, Article 26 paragraph (1).

🔊 Listen The global SDGs aims to achieve ten targets with regard to education. Among the ten targets, the Government of Indonesia found that seven among them are in line with the RPJMN 2015-2019.

Global Targets	National Targets	National Indicators
4.1 By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes.	1. The fulfillment of the right of all citizens to complete, at least, primary and secondary education.	NA
4.2 By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education.	1. Increased participation of children, between the age of 3-6 years, in early childhood education.	a.   Increased Gross Enrollment Rate (GER) of children in early childhood education to 77.2% by 2019. (2014: 66.8%).
4.3 By 2030, ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university.	1. The fulfillment of the right of all citizens to complete, at least, primary and secondary education.	a.   Increased GER in High School/Vocational School/Madrasah Aliyah/equal to 91.6% by 2019. (2014: 79.2%).
4.4 By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship.	NA	NA
4.5 By 2030, eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations.	1. Increased number of sustainable education, indicated by: –    increased participation of children from poor families and children with special needs; –    decreased variation number of participation among regions; and –    gender parity index to close to the value of 1.	a.   Increased GER ratio in Junior High School/Madrasah Tsanawiyah among 20% of the poorest and 20% of the richest population to 0.9 by 2019. (2014: 0.85); b.   Increased GER ratio in High School/Vocational School/Madrasah Aliyah among 20% of the poorest and 20% of the richest population to 0.6 by 2019. (2014: 0.53).
4.6 By 2030, ensure that all youth and a substantial proportion of adults, both men and women, achieve literacy and numeracy.	1. The fulfillment of the right of all citizens to complete, at least, primary education.	a.   Increased average literacy rate among population above the age of 15 years to 96.1% by 2019. (2015: 94.1%); b.   Increased percentage of literacy among adult population between the age of 15-59 years to 97.5% by 2019. (2015: 96.6%).
4.7 By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development.	NA	NA
4.a Build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive and provide safe, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all.	NA	NA
4.b By 2020, substantially expand globally the number of scholarships available to developing countries, in particular least developed countries, small island developing States and African countries, for enrollment in higher education, including vocational training and information and communications technology, technical, engineering and scientific programs, in developed countries and other developing countries.	1. The availability of data and wide access to quality higher education institutions with international competitiveness.	a.   Increased number of foreign university students to receive Developing Countries Partnership Program Scholarship to 2500 by 2019. (2015:500).
4.c By 2030, substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers, including through international cooperation for teacher training in developing countries, especially least developed countries and small island developing States.	Improved academic qualification of all teachers (minimum degree of Bachelor 1/Diplomat IV) and improved teachers competence in subject and pedagogical knowledge, as well as decreased absence of teachers.	a.   Increased percentage of certified teachers for kindergartens, elementary schools, junior high schools, high schools and special needs high schools to 100% by 2019. (2015: 75.8%):   Early Childhood Education: –    Increased percentage of quality teachers for early childhood and adult education to 52.4% by 2019. (2015: 31%); –    Increased number of teachers to receive professional benefits to 104,310 by 2019. (2015: 71,038);   Elementary School: –    Increased number of teachers holding bachelor 1 and diploma 4 degrees to 1,713,049. (2015: 1,525,317);   Secondary Schools: –    Number of teachers holding bachelor 1 and diploma 4 degrees to 9,067 by 2019 (2015: 9,067); –    Increased number of teachers to receive professional benefits to 93,456 by 2019. (2015: 74,042); –    Increased number of teachers holding a Master degree to 400

🔊 Listen Despite the arguably comprehensive legal framework and sufficient budget commitment for the fulfillment of adequate access to education for all citizens, Indonesia is still struggling with the following challenges hampering the enjoyment of everyone to quality education:

• Literacy rate is high at 93.88%, however, over 50% of Indonesian at the age of fifteen years do not master basic skills in reading or mathematics (OECD);
• Primary school teachers in remote/rural areas are less qualified and too often absent from schools (OECD)
• There are 75% of primary schools failed to meet the minimum service standards such as inadequate pupil-teacher proportion and school facilities;
• Net enrollment rate for primary education is at 96.70%; secondary junior school is at 77.82%; and secondary high school is at 59.71%. (BPS);
• Participation rate for higher education is: 17.34% (BPS);
• The allocation of funding to early childhood development and education remains relatively low at some 1.2% of the education budget, compared with the international benchmark of 4-5%, most of growth and participation in the early childhood care and education came from private sectors and only accessible for parents who can afford it;
• Despite the progressive effort to ratify the CRPD and the educational framework striving towards more inclusive education, enrollment rate of children with disability remained low at 0.25% and 0.13% of the number of students enrolled in regular primary and junior secondary schools respectively, with higher enrollment of boys than girls. (OECD);
• The availability of special needs schools is very disparate between provinces, ranging from 457 schools in East Java to only 4 in West Papua. Most provinces outside Java only have less than 10 special needs schools. (OECD)
• Indigenous children are deprived from education due to economical, geographical and cultural inaccessibilities. Most of indigenous communities live far from the conventional administrative geographical settings, they mostly live inside or around forests and very remote, where very few schools are within reach. Many indigenous families cannot afford to send their children to school, and some indigenous groups still living nomadic lifestyles, making it is hard for children to maintain attendance at school. (Bappenas)

While some of the above challenges are addressed in the National Development Agenda, but there are some elements are still necessary to be considered to be included in the agenda to make sure that all essential elements of the right to education are fulfilled.

🔊 Listen In light of the above gap analyses, we propose the following additional indicators to strengthen the national development strategy to improve the access to education for all Indonesians.

Global Targets	National Targets	National Indicators	Suggested HRBA Indicators
4.1 By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes.	1. The fulfillment of the right of all citizens to complete, at least, primary and secondary education.	NA	–    Increased enrollment rate for primary and secondary education; –    Proportion of rural children in primary school walk more than 3 KM from home to school (Minister Regulation 23/2013); –    Proportion of rural children in secondary school walk more than 6 KM from home to school (Minister Regulation 23/2013); –    Increased proportion of children at the age of 15 years with minimum proficiency level of reading and mathematics; –    Increased participation of female students with disabilities in primary and secondary schools;
4.2 By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education.	1. Increased participation of children, between the age of 3-6 years, in early childhood education.	a.   Increased Gross Enrollment Rate (GER) of children in early childhood education to 77.2% by 2019. (2014: 66.8%).	–    Increased national budget on early childhood education; –    Percentage of children from poor families enrolled in early childhood education (data segregated by gender).
4.3 By 2030, ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university.	1. The fulfillment of the right of all citizens to complete, at least, primary and secondary education.	a.   Increased GER in High School/Vocational School/Madrasah Aliyah/equal to 91.6% by 2019. (2014: 79.2%).	–    Increasing financial support for vocational and tertiary education, as well as students sourced from APBN and APBD. –    Disaggregation of data by gender for recipients of financial support from government for vocational and tertiary education.
4.4 By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship.	NA		–    Improved vocational education curricula to strengthen industrial attachments and other forms of work-based learning; –    Increased number of SMK students employed in formal sector employment (data is segregated by gender)
4.5 By 2030, eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations.	1. Increased number of sustainable education, indicated by: –    increased participation of children from poor families and children with special needs; –    decreased variation number of participation among regions; and –    gender parity index to close to the value of 1.	a.   Increased GER ratio in Junior High School/Madrasah Tsanawiyah among 20% of the poorest and 20% of the richest population to 0.9 by 2019. (2014: 0.85);   b.   Increased GER ratio in High School/Vocational School/Madrasah Aliyah among 20% of the poorest and 20% of the richest population to 0.6 by 2019. (2014: 0.53).	–    Increased enrollment of female students with disability in primary and secondary schools; –    Increased number of special needs schools in provinces with less than 10 special needs schools available; –    Increasing number of membership groups of persons with disabilities in vocational and tertiary education; –    Increased financial supports for students with disability and indigenous children/adult to enable them to access education at all levels; –    Increased informal school settings adaptable for indigenous children.
4.7 By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development.	N/A	NA	–    The availability of an integrated and comprehensive human rights education curriculum in primary and secondary school; –    Percentage of 15-year old students enrolled in secondary school demonstrating at least a fixed level of knowledge in human rights.
4.a Build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive and provide safe, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all.	NA	NA	Proportion of schools with access to: (a) electricity; (b) the Internet for pedagogical purposes; (c) computers for pedagogical purposes; (d) adapted infrastructure and materials for students with disabilities; (e) basic drinking water; (f) single sex basic sanitation facilities; and (g) basic hand-washing facilities (as per the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for All (WASH) indicator definitions).
Data Sources: Integrated Database (BDT) from the National Team for the Acceleration of Poverty Alleviation (TNP2K).

🔊 Listen The UN Country system in Indonesia is committed to play a strong role to assist the GoI to achieve SDGs with three main modalities namely policy advocacy and advisory, capacity building and knowledge sharing.

With regard to the access to education, UNESCO would provide significant assistances for the GoI, particularly in the areas of the promotion of quality education for all, improvement of the quality of primary education and quality literacy for all. Additionally, UNICEF also has the Basic Education for All, which will provide useful contributions for the GoI, especially with regard to improving the skills of school principals, supervisors, and education officials to manage and deliver quality primary education that reaches all children; and engaging communities and local civil society to deliver better quality services for marginalized children, for example through improved school-based management.