The differential educational characteristics of West Sumatran and West Javanese migrants in Jakarta : a socio-historical approach

Abstract

This study shows, using data on West Sumatran and West Javanese life-time migrants in Jakarta and educational data of the home provinces, that West Sumatra as an area in the outer islands which was ruled directly and had an active religious movement has "high" education while West Java which had all the reverse characteristics has "low" education. There are big differences in educational characteristics between West Sumatran and West Javanese migrants in Jakarta just as there are in the home provinces. The two migrant groups in Jakarta tend to be self-selected to emphasize the better educated who could come fron either rural or urban areas. The striking difference in educational characteristics between the two areas is due to the different course of educational development in each area. This development was mostly influenced by the failure of both the colonial government school system and the Islamic Modernist movement's school system to penetrate into rural areas of West Java.