Fajar Sidik
In Indonesia, the central government is implementing the school zoning policy to address inequalities in education access. Despite this objective, the number of students dropping out of school–especially at the junior high school level–has been increasing each year. Many previous studies have explained the problem of school dropout by identifying various causal factors (such as personal, academic, peer relationships, socio-economic, socio-cultural, policy intervention, etc.). The effect of the school zoning policy on school dropout rates remains elusive. This study explored the implementation of the school zoning policy and its impact on junior high school dropout rates. Conducted in one of the regions with Indonesia’s highest student dropout rates, this case study revealed that the implementation of the school zoning policy drastically increased the number of private junior high school student dropouts, particularly at non-favourite schools. Comparing before and after, the average number of students dropping out of school increased by about 1.5 times. Notably, quota restrictions for low-income students in public junior high schools likely play a significant role in this problem. Using a realistic evaluation approach, this paper shows how the implementation of the school zoning policy causes an increase in the student dropout rates at the junior high school level. This paper suggests that the Ministry of Education should create targeted financial support programmes, such as free tuition, additional transportation costs, and pocket money, for economically disadvantaged students to decrease dropout rates and boost mandatory basic education completion. © 2025 Educational Review.
Department of Education Policy, Faculty of Education, Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
