Bridging The Unbridgeable? The Structural Nature of Urban-Rural Educational Inequality in Indonesia
Educational inequality between urban and rural areas remains a persistent structural problem in Indonesia. This study aims to identify the main factors causing the urban-rural educational divide in Indonesia and analyze why this inequality is difficult to overcome. Using a systematic literature review method, this study analyzed 30 accredited journal articles and official reports published between 2016-2026. The findings reveal three interrelated structural factors: (1) unequal distribution of teachers and educational infrastructure, (2) household economic disparities affecting learning participation, and (3) inequality in education policy and budget allocation that tends to be urban-biased. These three factors form a dynamics that reinforces each other. Within Bourdieu's framework, this mechanism functions as social reproduction: children from affluent urban families inherit cultural and economic capital that is then strengthened by quality schools, while rural children with limited capital are trapped in low-quality schools, causing inequality to reproduce across generations. Breaking this dynamics requires a holistic approach that simultaneously reforms teacher distribution based on real needs, improves basic infrastructure in disadvantaged areas, reforms the allocation of school operational funds (BOS) and special allocation funds (DAK) using a needs-based approach, integrates education policies with poverty alleviation programs, and develops contextual curricula and adaptive digitalization.
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