Introduction: Education in Indonesia—A Critical Introduction

This introductory chapter addresses issues of educational inequality in Indonesia and highlights the needs of critical approaches to investigate education in Indonesia. Critical approaches enable the analyses of the underlying structures and hegemonic discourses that have become the roots of various social injustices. This chapter explains the focus of the book, i.e. social justice in education, as the overarching theme in examining the contemporary Indonesian education system. It offers critical examinations of Indonesian education policies and practices by inviting contributions from critical scholars, academics, researchers, and practitioners to deepen their understanding of education in Indonesia.