"Every citizen shall have the right to obtain education and the government shall establish and conduct a national education system which shall be regulated by the state. Struggling under the shift of political system and economic structure, and the shift from centralized concentration of power development to decentralization, the government of Indonesia through the Ministry of National Education has done efforts to maintain the existing education development achievement, to prepare high quality of human resources, and to make some adjustment toward the national education system in line with the implementation of decentralization."

Law No. 2/1989
Previously, education in Indonesia was regulated under the Law No. 2/1989. However, with the changes in Indonesian life, the law was changed in 2003 with the Law No. 23/2003 about National Education System.

Law No. 20/2003
Based on the correct constitution, education is defined as a planned effort to establish a study environment and education process so that the student may actively develop his/her own potential to gain the religious and spiritual level, self-consciousness, personality, intelligent, behaviour and creativity to him/herself, other citizens and for the nation. The constitution also noted that education in Indonesia is divided into two major parts, formal and non-formal. A formal education is divided again into three levels, primary, secondary and tertiary education.