Grouping of Provinces in Indonesia Based on Quality Education Indicators in 2025 Using the Self-Organizing Maps Method

Abstract

Access to quality education plays an essential role in improving people’s welfare and supporting sustainable development. As a fundamental component of social progress, quality education is not limited to academic attainment but also involves the development of skills, values, and character needed for meaningful participation in society. This study seeks to identify patterns and disparities in education quality among provinces by grouping regions based on multiple educational indicators. The indicators analyzed include Average Years of Schooling, Literacy Rate, Access to Information and Communication Technology, Gross Enrollment Rate, Net Enrollment Rate, and Teacher Qualifications. The data were examined using descriptive statistics, data visualization, and normalization, followed by clustering through the Self-Organizing Map (SOM) method as an unsupervised learning approach in data mining. Two clusters were formed to represent provinces with relatively higher and lower levels of educational quality. Cluster validity was assessed using internal validation measures, namely the Connectivity Index, Silhouette Index, and Dunn Index. The findings reveal that most basic education and literacy indicators show relatively favorable conditions; however, disparities remain evident in average years of schooling, ICT access, and participation in secondary and higher education. The clustering results indicate that 35 provinces fall into the group with relatively higher education quality, while 3 provinces are classified in the lower category. These results suggest that although the overall condition of education is relatively good, regional inequality in educational outcomes persists and requires targeted policy interventions to promote more balanced and inclusive development.