Students need proper moral values, not blind faith<\/p>\n
The House of Representatives is deliberating on the draft bill
\nfor national education, which has many contentious points,
\nparticularly those regarding religion that have created
\ncontroversy. Senior educator Mochtar Buchori, also a member of
\nthe House working committee on the draft bill, talked with The
\nJakarta Post's Soeryo Winoto about the relevance of religious
\ninstruction at schools.<\/p>\n
Question: Some believe that the national educational draft
\nbill would impose certain kinds of religious instructions on
\nstudents and schools. How do you see this?<\/p>\n
Answer: Muslims (involved in the preparation of the draft)
\nreferred to religious instruction as a means (to develop
\nstudents' morality). Based on their discussions, what they really
\nmeant was moral education, instead of specific religious
\neducation.<\/p>\n
They were very persistent about making sure students received
\nreligious instruction because they are of the opinion that our
\neducation system has failed to build character among the younger
\ngeneration. Continuous student brawls and an increase in drug
\nabuse were cited. Morality was always stressed, not religiosity.<\/p>\n
Moral education and religious instruction start from home;
\nthey cannot simply be made school subjects. When children go to
\nschool they bring their own norms from home. Some of the norms
\nare acceptable and the others are not, so it is the school's duty
\nto preserve acceptable norms and correct the unacceptable.<\/p>\n
The question is, what's the context? ... Ideally, for Muslims,
\nthe context is Islamic values in Indonesia, and in general the
\nnorms relate to the context of their religious life.<\/p>\n
But we should know what we really want to develop. Do we want
\nto develop religious education or religious instruction?
\nReligious instruction contains "dos and don'ts", while religious
\neducation shapes students' life style.<\/p>\n
Further, what do we expect from moral development or religious
\ndevelopment? Moral development is easier to understand than
\ndevelopment in religiosity, which involves faith and taqwa
\n(piety).<\/p>\n
The problem is this word taqwa (inserted as a fundamental
\nconsideration in the draft bill). It's a word with specific
\nIslamic connotations, and thus meaningful only to Muslims. Aren't
\nthere any other terms which can be used to replace it? A working
\ncommittee member of the National Awakening Party (PKB) of the
\nSouth Kalimantan chapter has proposed that the word be dropped
\nfrom the draft bill.<\/p>\n
Is the working committee serious enough about discussing the
\nbill?<\/p>\n
We will be consistent in voicing what we perceive is the best
\nfor national education. We are trying to change the wording of
\nthe contentious points and articles, or we may just drop them
\ncompletely. If we fail to change that point or the contentious
\narticles now, we will have to take up the issue during the
\nplenary session beginning April 1. And, if we still fail to
\nchange the controversial wording, we will try to clarify them
\nwith explanatory articles.<\/p>\n
Doesn't the draft bill reflect pluralism?<\/p>\n
No. What pluralism? ... The government concept aims to push
\nassimilation among the religions. I don't agree with that
\nconcept. What is happening now with Muslim students attending
\nnon-Islamic schools is evidence of bottom-up assimilation. But if
\nMuslim students quit non-Islamic schools after the draft bill is
\npassed into law, that will be segregation. And then the
\ngovernment will try to boost assimilation through its own top-
\ndown concept.<\/p>\n
Some say that point 1a of Article 13 in the current draft,
\nwhich cites students' right to religious instruction according to
\ntheir faith from teachers of the same religion, has violated the
\nvision of religious-based schools. What do you think?<\/p>\n
It is very common for students from Muslim families to go to
\nChristian or Catholic schools. But hardly any students from
\nChristian or Catholic families go to Islamic-based schools. Thus
\nthe bill will affect the vision of the Christian or Catholic
\nschools, not Muhammadiyah schools, for instance. But vision does
\ndepend on its definition.<\/p>\n
The government has heavily influenced education so far, even
\nfrom the pre-school level. Your comment?<\/p>\n
(Such a tendency) is wrong. (Regarding) moral education and
\nreligious instruction, it is an education of values, which makes
\nthe students adhere to norms and rules.<\/p>\n
Adherence depends on whether students know the rules, and
\nwhether they comprehend them, and how they commit and implement
\nthe values. This makes up the cycle of an education system.
\nCorrect education starts from knowing how to implement (values),
\nand should not stop halfway.<\/p>\n
This is the difference between school lessons, which just
\nteach students to know the rules and norms. The goal of moral
\neducation is to guide students to make a voluntary personal
\ncommitment. Have we been successful in this? No! The existing
\neducation system is like a process of deceiving people.<\/p>\n
Discourse on education has two sides: Intellectual and moral.
\nWe need both.<\/p>\n
Is it possible to take out religious instruction from the
\ncurriculum, but keep something in it about character and
\nmorality, especially from the elementary level?<\/p>\n
Yes, it is possible. We've started voicing that. But, it's
\nstill got a long way to go. We will deal with the issue in the
\nexplanatory articles (of the draft bill). If the objective of
\nreligious instruction is to build morality, the separation will
\nbe no problem, but if the goal is to develop blind faith, which
\ncould lead to fanaticism, the separation of religious instruction
\nfrom the curricula would not be acceptable.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/students-need-proper-moral-values-not-blind-faith-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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