Bringing Together the Puzzle of Hope for Marginalized Children in Sekolah Rakyat: A Comparison of Education Policies During the Old Order and Reform Era Through a Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

This review asks what access to education has meant for marginalized children in Indonesia, and it answers by placing Old Order education policy next to that of the Reform Era, then reading both against the current Sekolah Rakyat initiative. Sources were scholarly publications and policy documents found through academic search platforms and official government channels; only those addressing historical education policy, educational equity, or the design and implementation of Sekolah Rakyat were kept. The synthesis was thematic, organized around policy purpose, access mechanisms, governance, and persistent barriers. Working under the severe constraints of the post-independence years, the Old Order focused on nation-building, on putting a national education system together, and on making Indonesian the shared language of instruction. Rights-based guarantees and targeted access instruments arrived with the Reform Era. Gaps in school quality, facilities, teacher deployment, and household conditions stayed. Sekolah Rakyat is best understood as an affirmative policy response, but its contribution to equity depends on transparent eligibility rules, adequate resources, community involvement, child safeguards, and independent evaluation. History, the review contends, does not offer a model to replicate. What it offers is a public mission, one that still needs implementation grounded in rights and checked against evidence.