Ministry Urges Public to Verify Permits of Illegal Islamic Boarding Schools
The Ministry of Religious Affairs (Kemenag) has urged the public to be more selective in choosing pesantren-based educational institutions. This follows the ministry’s move to regulate institutions that claim to be pesantren but do not meet the requirements stipulated in applicable regulations.
Director of Pesantren at the Ministry of Religious Affairs, Basnang Said, explained that an institution can only be called a pesantren if it fulfils the essential elements of an Islamic boarding school. “The requirements to be a pesantren are having students (santri), a kiai, the study of classical Islamic texts (kitab kuning), a mosque or prayer room (mushala), and a dormitory,” Basnang said on Friday (10/7/2026).
According to him, the current challenge is the emergence of various religious study groups and hermitages that unilaterally claim to be pesantren, even though they do not meet these requirements. “The challenge is that many study groups or hermitages suddenly claim to be pesantren while not fulfilling the requirements,” he said.
Therefore, the Ministry of Religious Affairs is working to tidy up the governance of pesantren so that the public is not mistaken in identifying a religious educational institution. “The ministry considers it important to tidy things up so that the public does not easily view every institution as a pesantren,” Basnang stated.
He urged the public to first verify the legality of a pesantren before deciding to enrol their children or participate in educational activities at the institution. “The public must check whether the institution called a pesantren already has a permit or not,” he said.
If the public remains doubtful about the status of an institution claiming to be a pesantren, Basnang asked them to contact the local district/city Office of the Ministry of Religious Affairs or through the Directorate of Pesantren information service.
Previously, the Minister of Religious Affairs, Prof Nasaruddin Umar, stressed that the ministry would crack down on illegal pesantren that have often been a cover for various deviations, including cases of sexual violence. Nasaruddin said the government would tighten the operational definition of a pesantren so that a clear distinction can be made between pesantren that meet the requirements and bogus institutions merely using the pesantren name.
“We are asking for a very sharp crackdown; for example, we first create the definition of a pondok pesantren, what the requirements are to be called a pondok pesantren, then what the requirements are to be called a kiai,” Nasaruddin said.
According to Nasaruddin, the ministry is also optimising the role of the Majelis Masyayikh as an independent body tasked with maintaining the quality of pesantren education while developing the concept of an ideal pesantren ecosystem to prevent sexual violence and other deviations. He stressed that the code of conduct within the pesantren environment binds not only the students but also all caregivers and supervisors.
“The code of conduct does not only bind the students, but it also binds their supervisors,” he said.
Nasaruddin confirmed that the ministry would not tolerate pesantren proven to have committed legal violations. In addition to criminal proceedings against perpetrators, the government will also impose administrative sanctions in the form of revoking operational permits and closing the institution. The students will be transferred to other, safer pesantren so that their right to education remains protected.
However, Basnang did not mention the exact number of illegal pesantren or institutions that only have legality but are not operational when asked for an explanation regarding the data. He stressed that the ministry’s current focus is ensuring that every institution using the name pesantren truly meets the requirements and has a permit in accordance with the regulations.