Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia's early childhood education (ECE) enrollment rate has risen to 88.38 percent in 2025 as the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education expanded interventions to 146 districts and cities.
Director General of Early Childhood, Basic, Non-formal, and Informal Education Gogot Suharwoto said on Tuesday that the interventions—covering advocacy and public outreach efforts—also aim to accelerate the implementation of the 13-year compulsory education program.
“The interventions carried out by the directorate of early childhood education across districts and cities are being implemented in phases through 2029,” he said, adding that the efforts have boosted the ECE enrollment rate from 74.15 percent in 2024 to 88.38 percent in 2025.
In support of the 13-year compulsory education push, the ministry has implemented a range of measures to expand ECE services, from preventing and addressing out-of-school children to providing better-targeted educational assistance and improving facilities and infrastructure across ECE schools.
Additionally, the ministry has conducted advocacy work, drafted a grand design for the one-year ECE compulsory education roadmap along with local implementation strategies, and distributed technical guidelines to regional governments to assist them in accelerating the 13-year compulsory education program.
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"These efforts will be continued to shift the mindset of the public and local stakeholders regarding the critical importance of ECE," Suharwoto asserted.
The legal reinforcement of the 13-year compulsory education, which adds one year of ECE, has been included in the draft revision of the National Education System Law.
This serves as a strategic step to strengthen the foundation of national education from an early age.
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By incorporating ECE into the compulsory education scheme, the state is obligated to fully engage in regulation, funding, and service quality assurance.
Going forward, all ECE services are also designed to be integrated into a standardized and formalized national education system.