Education Quality Gap Between Types of Education Services: Education Report Data Analysis 2025

Abstract

This study aims to examine disparities in educational quality across different types of educational services, including public schools, madrasas, religious education, equivalency education, and special schools, using comparable indicators across educational levels. The study employed a qualitative descriptive-comparative approach based on secondary data from the 2025 Indonesian Education Report. Data were analyzed across fifteen educational service types at elementary, junior secondary, and senior secondary/vocational levels using four core indicators: literacy, numeracy, student character, and learning quality. The analysis involved data condensation, comparative data display, identification of achievement patterns, and verification of recurring disparities across service types and educational levels. The findings reveal persistent disparities in literacy and numeracy, particularly among equivalency education services, which frequently fall into the lower achievement categories. Several madrasas also demonstrate lower achievement, whereas religious education services show substantial variation across educational levels. Student character achievement is comparatively more homogeneous, while learning quality shows a predominantly declining trend across several service types. The findings demonstrate that educational inequality is multidimensional and cannot be adequately explained by a public–non-public dichotomy. Education quality policies should therefore adopt differentiated interventions based on educational pathways, service types, and specific quality indicators.