School enrollment in Indonesia

The objective of this paper is to relate children's school enrollment and level of educational attainment to their household socioeconomic characteristics and the availability of schools. For primary school enrollment, two issues are explored. The first concerns the characteristics of those children who do not attend school, given the relative availability of facilities. The second concerns household expenditures on education, particularly in relation to the availability of facilities and households' ability and willingness to pay for education. The study, based on data, shows that education in Indonesia, especially beyond the primary level, is very much an income-related phenomenon. Education is also strongly influenced by attitudes as implied by the evidence that the relatively rich and well-educated shun vocational training, even though it appears to yield a comparable return in the market to general training. In addition, the fact that girls do not receive more schooling may be related to parents' attitudes, although their behavior may also be influenced by the lower market returns to girls' education. The data clearly show that availability of facilities promotes school attendance and educational attainment. Yet, household considerations should not be disregarded.