Structure of Education System in Indonesia

The education system in Indonesia comprises of the primary, middle, secondary, Vocational and Tertiary education. The compulsory education is for nine years and hence everyone must attend six years of elementary level and three years of secondary education. There were also many Islamic schools in Indonesia which doesn’t come under this and are managed by the Ministry of Religious Affairs, Indonesia. Know about the structure of education system in Indonesia:

Pre-higher Education

Age: 7 - 15 years
School system structure:
1st Stage
School Type: Elementary
Length: 6 years
Age: 7 - 12
2nd Stage
School Type: Junior Secondary
Length: 3 years
Age: 13 - 15

Upper Secondary Education

School Type: General Senior Secondary
Length: 3 years
Age: 16 - 18
The Certificate or diploma that is awarded to the successful candidates: Certificate for the successfully completing upper secondary school (Surat Tanda Tamat Belajar Sekolah Menegah Unum)

Vocational Secondary

School Type: The vocational senior secondary education
Length: 3 years
Age: 16 - 18

School Education

The Indonesian Compulsory education is for 9 years which includes six years of elementary education and three years of secondary education. The Secondary education has the junior level (also known as SMTP - Sekolah Menengah Tingkat Pertama), the senior level (also known as SMTA - Sekolah Menengah Tingkat Atas) and the technical or vocational education.
  • The Junior secondary education school comprises of 3 years and also is a part of basic school education programme having 6 years primary school education.

  • Senior secondary education has three years and it has different form of secondary education schools that include vocational, islamic and general. Further senior secondary education has three sessions and in the senior secondary school third year, the students get to choose between Languages, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences. The graduate from the senior secondary education schools should get the senior level certificate or Sekolah Menengah Atas which along with an entrance exam is important to attain for further pursuing their higher education.

Higher education

Indonesia is home to different types of Higher educational institutions like Universities (public and also private), institutes for teacher’s training, Islamic institutes, (private and public offering professional and academic university-level of education) and polytechnics.
Languages: Indonesian

Different stages of studies:
  • The Non-university level:
    The non-university level education such as vocational or higher technical education is given by the Akademi, that are single-faculty academies conferring Diploma and the Polytechnics that also confers Diplomas.

  • University level studies:
    The University level studies are divide into three stages

    First stage - University level: Sarjana (S1)
    The university level first stage is Sarjana (Strata Satu) which is awarded to students after successful completion of full-time four years study at a school, university or institute. The students must secure a total of 144 credit marks to graduate. For subjects like Dentistry, Medicine, Pharmacy, Engineering and Veterinary Science, additional 2 to 6 semesters are added. The Degree Certificates which are awarded to the students bears the Sarjana inscription and then the name of the subject.

    Second stage - University level: Magister (S2)
    The Magister (Stata Dua) is the second stage of the university level that is awarded to all successful students after completing another two years of study and research. Somewhere, between 36-50 credits above stage 1 are essential for a student to graduate in the second stage of the university level.

    Third stage - University level: Doktor (S3)
    The third stage which is also known as Doktor (Strata Tiga) comprises of another 2-4 after the second stage ( Magister).
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