West Sumatra

This publication is only available in Indonesian.

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Indonesia began decentralising its education services in 2001. Decentralisation allows local governments to create educational innovations that can accommodate their individual needs and problems. However, not all districts have the capability to birth educational innovation. To understand more about the birth and implementation of educational innovations at the regional level, RISE Programme in Indonesia conducted a qualitative study to examine the sociocultural aspects of three highly innovative districts: Bukittinggi City, Yogyakarta City, and Gowa District.

This paper examines the politics of education policies in a decentralised political system: Under what conditions does decentralisation promote learning-enhancing policies?

RISE Programme in Indonesia's research team who are involved in a study regarding the impact of COVID-19 pandemic and school closures on student learning outcomes in Indonesia wrote down their findings on an insight note titled "Learning Loss or Learning Gain? A Potential Silver Lining to School Closures in Indonesia".

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What drives educational innovation to emerge at local level? We contribute on this question by examining three highly innovative districts in Indonesia. Our specific aim is to understand how the innovations are related to the districts’ socio-cultural context.

• The Direct Cash Transfer-Village Fund (BLT-DD) program implemented by villages indicates the villages’ ability to manage social assistance programs transparently and accountably.
• The key is village deliberation meeting as the highest-ranked decision-making forum which is held openly and participatorily.
• BLT-DD facilitators’ presence at the meeting is needed to verify and monitor the democratic process.