Gontor: Pesantren education as a holistic solution for Indonesia and the world
The absolute advantage of the pesantren education system lies in its ability to integrate formal, non-formal, and informal curricula within a unified 24-hour boarding ecosystem.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Rector of Universitas Darussalam (UNIDA) Gontor, KH Hamid Fahmy Zarkasyi, stated that the pesantren education system, which has been rooted for centuries in the Nusantara archipelago, serves as an answer to the crisis of holistic education that remains a challenge in Indonesia and the world.
According to Hamid, the history of secularisation in the West since the Renaissance era has separated scientific knowledge from religious values. The Western approach, which focuses too heavily on cognitive aspects for industrial growth, has proven to result in a crisis of morality and soft skills among students.
“Many Western figures such as Pestalozzi, Fröbel, and John Dewey attempted to integrate the head, heart, and hand. However, their educational models failed to balance the dominance of the cognitive aspect. In contrast, pesantren have been practising this concept of life education sustainably for hundreds of years,” said Hamid during the Global International Holistic Education Summit (GIHES) in Jakarta on Saturday.
Hamid emphasised that a holistic system does not merely reside in classroom theory but must be practised directly within the daily life of the pesantren. He also highlighted that the absolute strength of the pesantren system lies in its ability to unite formal, non-formal, and informal curricula within a 24-hour boarding ecosystem.
Observing the success of pesantren, which are self-sufficient and have endured for over a century without relying on foreign aid, Hamid encouraged the pesantren education system to be recognised nationally as an indigenous Indonesian educational system. He added that this model is also highly worthy of being presented on the international stage.
“The education system in pesantren is truly holistic, and we can offer it to the international community as an alternative for the development of the whole human being, in order to create global peace. This is Indonesia’s gift to the world,” he remarked.