<![CDATA[Indonesia’s 1945 Constitution frames education as both a right of every citizen and a duty that the state must finance, yet persistent dropout, child labour, child marriage, and regional disparities show that this constitutional obligation has not yet produced equal enjoyment of the right. This article examines how the constitutional obligation of compulsory education can operate as an instrument for fulfilling children’s human rights and advancing sustainable social justice. Using normative legal research with statutory, conceptual, case, and comparative approaches, the study analyses Articles 28B, 28C, and 31 of the 1945 Constitution, Law No. 20 of 2003 on the National Education System, Government Regulation No. 47 of 2008 on Compulsory Education, decisions of the Constitutional Court, and comparative jurisprudence from India, South Africa, and Nigeria. The findings show, first, that compulsory education has a dual normative structure, a child’s entitlement paired with a correlative state duty, which resolves the apparent tension between compulsion and liberty when read through the best-interests principle. Second, Indonesia’s framework is strong in its norms but weak in justiciability, in the financing of access beyond the budget mandate, and in the protection of vulnerable groups. Third, compulsory education advances social justice only when access, quality, inclusion, and enforceability are pursued together. The article proposes a four-pillar Constitutional Compulsory Education Framework that integrates rights, capabilities, and accountability.]]>
