Abstract:
This study aims to examine the impact of educational decentralisation on the
implementation of democratic principles in schools, highlighting the interaction
between the central government, local governments, and the community. The method
used is a literature study through descriptive-critical analysis of academic literature,
legislation, and previous research related to educational governance and school
democratisation. The results of the study show that decentralisation provides a great
opportunity to strengthen democracy in schools through increased participation of
teachers, students, parents, and the community; transparency and accountability in
management; and more collaborative school leadership. In this context, schools can
function as laboratories of democracy that foster the values of participation, equality,
tolerance, and respect for differences. However, this study also emphasises that
decentralisation has the potential to create new problems, including overlapping
authority between the central and regional governments, unequal capacity between
regions, and community participation that is often formalistic in nature. Nonsynergistic
interactions
between
the
central
government,
regional
governments,
and
the
community
can
lead
to
policy
fragmentation
and
widen
the
gap
in
the
practice
of
school
democratisation.
Thus,
the
democratisation
of
education
in
Indonesia
can
only
be
realised if decentralisation is supported by effective institutional coordination,
capacity building in the regions, and the empowerment of the community as active
partners in education.
