AMALI Urges Government to Fund Pesantren Proportionally

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Association of Ma’had Aly Indonesia (AMALI) is urging the state to proportionally finance pesantren education, including Formal Diniyah Education (PDF), Muadalah Education Units, and Ma’had Aly, as mandated by the Pesantren Law. The statement was made by AMALI Chairman Nur Salikin while providing testimony in a judicial review petition of Law Number 18 of 2019 on Pesantren, specifically regarding Article 48 paragraphs (2) and (3), during a session at the Constitutional Court. “We support the judicial review petitioners because the phrases ‘according to capability’ and ‘according to authority’ open up room for interpretation that causes the state to have no firm obligation to assist pesantren education,” Nur Salikin said on Wednesday. According to him, this condition has led to various forms of discrimination against pesantren education, including Ma’had Aly. To date, Ma’had Aly lecturers have been unable to access lecturer certification programmes, do not possess National Lecturer Identification Numbers (NIDN), and lack an integrated home base within the national higher education system. Furthermore, Ma’had Aly students, or mahasantri, are not yet integrated into the Higher Education Database (PDDikti), preventing them from accessing various state-provided educational assistance programmes, including the Kartu Indonesia Pintar (KIP) Kuliah scholarship. “The KIP Kuliah budget, which amounts to trillions of rupiah, cannot be accessed by Ma’had Aly students. This demonstrates ongoing budgetary discrimination against pesantren education,” he stated. Based on data recorded in the Ministry of Religious Affairs’ EMIS system, there are currently around 1,548 Ma’had Aly lecturers across Indonesia. To date, none have gained access to lecturer certification as commonly available to other higher education lecturers. The majority of Ma’had Aly lecturers also receive very limited honorariums, ranging from IDR 500,000 to IDR 2 million per month, depending on the financial capacity of each pesantren. AMALI also hopes the government will promptly establish a special Pesantren Endowment Fund allocation to support the sustainability and quality improvement of pesantren education. While appreciating the government’s attention to pesantren thus far, AMALI believes the support remains disproportionate to the real needs faced by pesantren institutions. “We are grateful for the state’s attention to pesantren. However, this support is not yet proportional. Pesantren are often asked to participate in various national agendas, but the affirmation, facilitation, and budgetary support they receive are still very minimal,” Nur Salikin said. Furthermore, AMALI is pushing for the acceleration of the establishment of a Directorate General of Pesantren as a strategic step to strengthen governance and state services for pesantren. The presence of a Directorate General of Pesantren is considered crucial so that pesantren, including Ma’had Aly, can gain broader access to recognition, affirmation, facilitation, and various national education development programmes. Currently, there are 95 Ma’had Aly institutions across Indonesia, mostly located within large pesantren that host thousands to tens of thousands of students. The number of active Ma’had Aly students is recorded at more than 22,000 and continues to grow each year.