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11 - COVID-19 and Education in Indonesia: When School Reopening Is Not Enough to Avert Losing a Generation
- Edited by Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Suahasil Nazara, Titik Anas, Candra Fajri Ananda, Kiki Verico
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- Book:
- Keeping Indonesia Safe from the COVID-19 Pandemic
- Published by:
- ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
- Published online:
- 30 June 2023
- Print publication:
- 31 October 2022, pp 352-379
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Summary
INTRODUCTION
Indonesia has made remarkable development progress over the past twenty years, maintaining consistent annual economic growth of 5 per cent and attaining upper-middle-income country status by 2020. The world's tenth-largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity and a member of the G20, Indonesia aspires to become the fifth-largest global economy by 2030. Access to essential services, including education and health, has improved steadily over the last decade. Nonetheless, progress has been uneven, resulting in significant disparities across geographic and income levels and undermining the ability of growth to be truly inclusive. In general, the poor and vulnerable continue to lag. Even though all income groups are achieving better educational achievement, less than one-third of the poorest ten per cent of the population completed basic education in 2018 (Holmemo et al. 2020).
At the same time, Indonesia is in a period of demographic transition which will affect its human capital accumulation and labour market dynamics for decades to come. The working-age population grew by about 24 million from 2013, reaching over 200 million in 2020 (Statistics Indonesia 2021). Currently, half of the population is under the age of 30. Ensuring this generation has a good education and the right skills for employment is critical for the country to increase the productivity of its remaining workforce when the population begins to age in 2025–30. Nevertheless, efforts to improve the quality of human capital are not without challenges. Even before COVID-19, there were problems with learning gaps and disparities in outcomes in the Indonesian education system, which have gotten worse in recent years, especially as an impact of the pandemic.
COVID-19 mitigation measures have resulted in nationwide school closures of at least three months. While the government and educational community worked to maintain learning continuity, students and parents have had to use their own resources to continue learning while away from school, some through the Internet, TV, radio, or completing teacher assignments. At the same time, teachers had to adapt to new pedagogical concepts and teaching methods for which they did not receive any prior formal training. When it comes to the most disadvantaged students, those without access to digital tools or support to learn independently are particularly vulnerable to falling behind.
15 - Targeting of the Poor and Vulnerable
- from PART 4 - Connecting with the Poor: Government Policies and Programs
- Edited by Chris Manning, Sudarno Sumarto
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- Book:
- Employment, Living Standards and Poverty in Contemporary Indonesia
- Published by:
- ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
- Published online:
- 21 October 2015
- Print publication:
- 30 May 2011, pp 313-332
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Summary
Economic growth does not always lift the poor out of poverty, or may not do so as quickly as either governments or the poor would like. Drawing on the World Development Reports for 1990, 1997 and 2000, Coady, Grosh and Hoddinott (2004) note the emerging consensus that elements beyond growth are required for poverty alleviation, such as more intensive growth in the sectors in which the poor predominate, and a building of their asset base. They also recognise that such strategies need to be complemented by shorter-term assistance for the poorest households.
A range of transfers and social assistance is now targeted towards the poor in many developing countries, as a means to provide shortterm poverty alleviation. Social programs can be targeted broadly, where spending is directed not specifically at the poor but at the sectors where they are more likely to benefit, such as primary education, health care and rural development (van de Walle 1998). Programs may also target selected regions where pockets of poverty have been identified, or poor households or individuals by directly assessing their means (Coady, Grosh and Hoddinott 2004). How well these programs are targeted (and the costs involved) will have a large impact on how effectively they achieve their objective.
Particularly since the 1997–98 Asian financial crisis, Indonesia has implemented a range of social programs targeted both broadly and narrowly, using a variety of targeting methods. At its peak in 2006, spending on programs directly targeting poor households represented 5 per cent of all public expenditures and 45 per cent of social spending.
This chapter examines targeted social assistance and protection programs in Indonesia. We restrict ourselves to the more narrow targeting of poor households and individuals. We begin by briefly examining the evolution of targeted social programs. We then provide a quick overview of different approaches to targeting the poor, followed by an analysis of how effectively current programs are targeted. We outline some possibilities for future targeting in Indonesia before presenting our conclusions.
THE EVOLUTION OF TARGE TED SOCI AL PROGRAMS
A brief history of social assistance in Indonesia
Targeted poverty reduction and social assistance programs have been in place in Indonesia for a number of years. Here we briefly examine major events in their history. The first generation of social assistance programs targeted at households arose in response to the Asian financial crisis.