Government Strategy to Forge Santri into Competitive Digital Talent
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Deputy Minister of Communication and Digital, Nezar Patria, has revealed Indonesia’s strategy to ensure that students from Islamic boarding schools (santri) can become superior and competitive digital talent.
The strategy involves opening opportunities for collaboration with pesantren (Islamic boarding schools) as a second home for students, as well as expanding access to digital training and certification to achieve this goal.
“We have digital training that can be followed online, leading to competency certifications that are useful for entering the workforce,” Nezar stated in a statement received and confirmed in Jakarta on Thursday.
In addition to facilitating digital literacy programmes initiated by the government, Nezar also stated that the Ministry of Communication and Digital (Kemkomdigi) is ready to support other initiatives involving pesantren in increasing the digital capacity of the community.
According to him, developing the digital skills of santri is crucial because graduates of pesantren have diverse professional options in the future, beyond serving as preachers or religious teachers.
During the audience, Deputy Minister Nezar also encouraged digital literacy programmes within the pesantren environment to evolve alongside rapidly changing times, particularly regarding the use of new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI).
“Digital literacy now is more about trying to improve skills or understanding of emerging technologies. For example, artificial intelligence, IoT, and so on,” he said.
Therefore, adequate understanding is required so that the use of AI is conducted critically and responsibly.
“At the very least, there must be literacy on how we face this artificial intelligence. And I believe this is very contextual within the pesantren,” he added.
In addition to digital training and certification, Kemkomdigey is also offering opportunities for collaboration in technology-based entrepreneurship programmes.
These programmes complement various digital training initiatives already being implemented by Kemkomdigi through the Human Resources Development Agency (BPSDM) of Komdigi.
He expressed hope that collaboration with pesantren could strengthen digital literacy while simultaneously enhancing community skills, ensuring they are not merely technology users, but are also capable of becoming competitive developers and participants in the digital economy.