In 1870, with the growth of Dutch Ethical Policy formulated by Conrad Theodor van Deventer, some of these Dutch-founded schools opened the doors for pribumi (lit.

[3] The Dutch introduced a system of formal education for the local population of Indonesia, although this was restricted to certain privileged children.

These schools provide two or three years training of vernacular subjects (reading, writing, ciphering, hygiene, animals and plants, etc.)

[4] The Dutch colonial government established universities and colleges for native Indonesian on the island of Java.

Before founding the Bandung Institute of Technology in 1920, there was no university-level education in the country; students had to go abroad (mainly to Netherlands) to receive it.

The Japanese occupation marked the deterioration of education in Indonesia, as schools were organized with the goal of creating Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere of influence.

[5] Under the Japanese and Dutch occupation, most of the educational institutions were created to support the needs of the occupying power.

It was also decided that religion deserved a proper place and attention under the new republic, resulting in an increased support for Pesantren and Islamic Madrasah.

[8] Pre-school education in Indonesia is covered under PAUD (Pendidikan Anak Usia Dini, lit.

PAUD is under direct supervision and coverage of Directorate of Early Age Education Development (Direktorat Pengembangan Pendidikan Anak Usia Dini).

[11] Students can choose to participate in extracurricular activities provided by the school such as sports, arts, or religious studies.

[11] A central goal of the national education system is to impart secular wisdom about the world and to instruct children in the principles of participation in the modern nation-state, its bureaucracies, and its moral and ideological foundations.

[11] But with the end of the New Order in 1998 and the beginning of the campaign to decentralise the national government, provincial and district-level administrators obtained increasing autonomy in determining the content of schooling, and Pancasila began to play a diminishing role in the curriculum.

[11] A style of pedagogy prevails inside public-school classrooms that emphasises rote learning and deference to the authority of the teacher.

[11] Although the youngest children are sometimes allowed to use their local language, by the third year of primary school nearly all instruction is conducted in Indonesian.

[11] By not identifying individual problems of students and retaining an emotionally distanced demeanor, teachers are said to show themselves to be patient, which is considered admirable.

Some high schools offer an accelerated learning program so students who perform well can complete their level in two years.

Besides high school, students can choose among 47 programmes of vocational and pre-professional high school (Sekolah Menengah Kejuruan or SMK), divided in the following fields: technology and engineering, health, arts, craft and tourism, information and communication technologies, agro-business and agro-technology, business management.

[11] Special schools at the junior and senior levels teach hotel management, legal clerking, plastic arts, and music.

[11] Students with disabilities/special needs may opt to be enrolled in a separate school from the mainstream called Sekolah Luar Biasa (SLB, lit.

[15] The higher the percentage of survival rate means that fewer students at certain education level who drop out.

[11] Remuneration for primary- and secondary-school teachers, although low, compares favourably with that in other Asian countries such as Malaysia, India, and Thailand.

[11] Providing textbooks and other school equipment to Indonesia's 37 million schoolchildren throughout the far-flung archipelago continues to be a significant problem as well, especially in more remote areas.

[11] Usually found in rural areas and directed by a Muslim scholar, pesantren are attended by young people seeking a detailed understanding of the Quran, the Arabic language, sharia, and Muslim traditions and history, as well as more modern subjects such as English, mathematics, and geography.

Students can enter and leave the pesantren any time of the year, and the studies are not organized as a progression of courses leading to graduation.

[11] Although the chief aim of pesantren is to produce good Muslims, they do not share a single stance toward Islam or a position on secularism.

[11] Others are more traditional and stress the importance of following the wisdom of elders, including their teachings on science, religion, and family life.

[11] For those who opt for a pesantren education, a sixth-grade equivalency certificate is available after successful completion of a state test.

[11] For students to adapt to life in the modern nation-state, in the 1970s the Muslim-dominated Department of Religion (now the Ministry of Religious Affairs) advocated the spread of a newer variety of Muslim school: the madrassa.