ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to sketch the division of responsibilities and structures at and across various levels of government in Indonesia as well as to discuss how the provincial and local levels work together (or not) when it comes to governing the education system. This is done for two reasons: first, in order to lay out the broader dynamics within which various forms of decentralization operate (as described in previous chapters), and second, in order to provide the contextual information necessary to inform the systems analysis presented in the next chapter. The chapter has five sections. First, it offers a succinct recap of the administrative system in Indonesia. The second section then traces the evolution of decentralization policies from 1995 to the present day and elaborates on what various policies looked like at the provincial, district, and municipality levels. The third section homes in on the challenges of transitioning from a centralized to a decentralized system, focusing in large part on corruption in local elections (e.g., vote-buying) as well as the lack of clear direction in terms of how to transfer power from central bodies to various subnational institutions. The fourth section turns to provincial and district dynamics in practice. Finally, the fifth section lays out the funding mechanisms underlying decentralization in Indonesia. This section shows the complexity of education financing and examines the extent to which local institutions remained under the influence of central budgets and planning mechanisms following decentralization reform.
