Poverty, Schooling, and the Limits of Equal Access: Rethinking Educational Justice in Developing Contexts

Abstract

Despite extensive policy commitments to universal education, poverty continues to structure unequal access to schooling in many developing contexts. This article critically examines how education policies interact with socioeconomic inequality, using Indonesia as an illustrative case. While education laws and policies formally guarantee equal access, indirect costs, uneven resource allocation, and administrative discretion disproportionately affect low-income communities. The findings reveal that educational exclusion is not merely a consequence of individual disadvantage but is embedded within policy implementation practices that fail to address structural poverty. This article argues that equal access frameworks, when detached from social context, obscure deeper forms of injustice. Rethinking educational justice requires shifting from formal equality toward policies that explicitly confront socioeconomic vulnerability. By linking education policy to poverty dynamics, this study contributes to international debates on inequality, justice, and education governance in developing countries.