Towards Equitable Education: Combatting Pandemic-Era Learning Losses in Indonesia

The World Bank's 2024 report reveals severe learning losses and widened socioeconomic disparities in Indonesia due to COVID-19 school closures, especially impacting low-income and rural students. It urges targeted policy actions to enhance digital access, teacher support, and community engagement for equitable education recovery.

The 2024 World Bank report led by researchers Anna Hata, Seil Kim, and Shinsaku Nomura, highlights the stark impacts of COVID-19 school closures on Indonesia's educational system, the fourth-largest in the world. Supported by funding from the Australian government, the study reveals that prolonged school closures spanning up to 21 months brought significant learning disruptions, especially for low-income and rural students. This research not only quantifies the learning losses in language and mathematics skills but also unveils the widening socioeconomic gaps in educational outcomes post-pandemic. Indonesia's government implemented numerous educational reforms aimed at learning recovery, yet these measures faced challenges in reaching the country’s most disadvantaged students effectively. For a country where low learning quality was already an issue, the pandemic aggravated pre-existing disparities, placing many students even further behind their more affluent peers.

Pandemic’s Toll: Measuring Lost Learning in Indonesia

The findings are based on two surveys conducted in 2019 and 2023 with a sample of 6,693 primary school students, offering a comparative look at the changes in academic performance following school closures. The study estimates that between 2019 and 2023, students experienced a learning loss equivalent to 10.6 months in language and 11 months in mathematics, measured as a decrease of 0.265 and 0.276 standard deviations respectively. This learning gap is particularly noticeable among students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Those from the poorest 20% of households experienced about two years of learning loss in both language and math, while students with less educated parents also suffered disproportionately, with up to two years of language learning lost. The already existing gaps in learning between urban and rural students, boys and girls, as well as between public and private schools, intensified further during the pandemic, with disadvantaged groups falling further behind. Despite a significant effort by the Indonesian government to roll out nationwide digital and financial support, including internet connectivity, online learning resources, and teacher training, the assistance predominantly reached urban schools over rural ones, exacerbating regional disparities in learning outcomes.

School-Level Factors Deepen Disparities

The study delves into the school-level factors contributing to these losses and finds that teaching quality and school leadership played essential roles. Teachers who regularly assigned homework, required prompt submissions, and maintained high teaching standards tended to mitigate learning loss among students. Principals who frequently monitored teachers’ practices contributed to improved language outcomes among students, although the same correlation was weaker for mathematics. Notably, schools with pre-existing internet access before the pandemic saw better outcomes, as they could pivot to online learning with fewer disruptions. Yet internet access was often limited to urban settings, leaving rural students at a significant disadvantage. The difference is particularly evident in mathematics scores, where rural students without internet access showed a pronounced lag in learning compared to their urban peers. Additionally, while teacher engagement was generally associated with better learning outcomes, rural schools struggled to maintain high teaching standards during remote learning, likely due to reduced resources and support.

Socioeconomic Status Shapes Student Outcomes

At the individual level, students’ socioeconomic status had a profound influence on their learning outcomes. The study found that students from wealthier households with parents who had attained tertiary education outperformed their peers from poorer households by a significant margin. Students from the top economic quintile exhibited learning outcomes about two to three years ahead of students from the lowest quintile in both language and mathematics. This gap underscores the importance of parental support and access to educational resources at home, both of which were more accessible to wealthier families. Preschool attendance also showed a positive correlation with academic resilience, highlighting that students with early childhood education fared better post-pandemic than those without. Conversely, students who experienced the loss of a family member or a close acquaintance during the pandemic scored lower on average than those who did not face such a loss, indicating that bereavement had a significant negative impact on students' focus and academic motivation. Students from low socioeconomic backgrounds were more likely to experience such losses, adding an additional layer of disadvantage. The study also noted that students from poorer families were often required to contribute to household chores, particularly economic activities, further reducing their time available for schoolwork and study. In contrast, students from higher-income families had more parental support and dedicated time for educational activities, contributing to the widening gap in academic achievement.

Key Recommendations for Targeted Policy Action

The World Bank’s study suggests several policy recommendations aimed at reversing these widening disparities. Emphasizing resources for rural and low-income schools is critical, as is enhancing teacher training with a focus on practical skills and socio-emotional learning. Improving digital infrastructure in rural areas could play a vital role in bridging the educational divide, particularly if future disruptions occur. The study also recommends increasing school principal accountability to ensure more consistent oversight of teaching practices. Further, fostering partnerships between schools and communities can provide additional support networks, enabling disadvantaged students to access essential resources and guidance. As Indonesia seeks to rebuild its education system in the pandemic's aftermath, it faces the challenge of creating policies that are robust inclusive, and responsive to the needs of its most vulnerable populations.

Building a Resilient Education System for the Future

Through targeted interventions focusing on digital access, teacher effectiveness, and community involvement, Indonesia can work toward narrowing these educational inequalities and creating a more resilient educational framework. These recommendations prioritize the country’s most disadvantaged communities, whose students experienced the heaviest losses and are designed to equip the education system for future shocks. Addressing these disparities holistically, focusing on quality teaching, strong digital infrastructure, and community support, could help secure a more equitable and stable educational landscape for Indonesia’s future.