DPR Proposes National Standards for Islamic Boarding School Care Following Santri Burning Case

Jakarta, VIVA – Atalia Praratya, a member of Commission VIII of the DPR RI from the Golkar Party faction, has expressed deep condolences over the death of a santri in an alleged violence case at the Roudatussaulatiyah Al-Ibrahimiyah Islamic boarding school in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara.

Atalia stressed that the case, which has implicated the boarding school’s leader and a senior santri as suspects, is a humanitarian tragedy that must not be regarded as an ordinary incident.

“One life of a child of the nation has been lost. No words can erase the grief of the family left behind. Yet what is more saddening is if tragedies like this keep recurring while we merely take turns offering condolences without fixing the system that should be protecting them,” Atalia said in a written statement on Tuesday, 14 July 2026.

Atalia emphasised that Indonesian society places enormous trust in pesantren as Islamic educational institutions that have produced many ulama, scholars, national leaders and guardians of moral values.

According to her, the case must not be generalised as representative of all pesantren. Rather, it serves as a reminder that every educational institution must have a robust system of supervision and child protection.

“The majority of pesantren have carried out their educational function well. Precisely because we want to safeguard public trust in pesantren, every form of violence must be dealt with firmly,” Atalia said.

Atalia said that the development of pesantren cannot be measured solely by administrative completeness, curriculum quality or institutional governance.

Child safety and protection must be the primary indicator in assuring pesantren quality. She therefore proposed the drafting of a National Pesantren Care Standard oriented towards child protection, involving all elements of the pesantren, and requiring a complaint mechanism that is safe, easily accessible and guarantees confidentiality.

The standard should also be reinforced through periodic supervision and audits of care practices, accompanied by strict sanctions, including revocation of operating permits for pesantren proven to have systematically tolerated a culture of violence, in accordance with prevailing laws and regulations.

“I believe the Ministry of Religious Affairs now has the opportunity to focus more on developing and improving the quality of religious education, including building a supervision and care system capable of preventing all forms of violence,” she said.