'Pesantren' teaches rote memorization of Koran

Agus Maryono, The Jakarta Post, Kebumen, Central Java

Education plays a very important role in life. With this truth in mind, ustadz (Islamic teacher) Nurcholis Sanusi and his wife set up a pesantren, or Islamic boarding school, for children in the village of Tersobo 2 in Prembun district, Kebumen, Central Java.

The Huffad Khafsoh Abdul Azis pesantren, which was established in 1992, teaches children aged six and over about Islam, focusing on the memorization of all 6,666 verses of the Holy Koran.

Although most mosques have programs to teach children to read the Koran and memorize verses, the pesantren is unique because it targets small children.

"We only accept children who have just completed kindergarten or about to enter elementary school," said Nurcholis.

The pesantren is strict about age rules and refuses to accept children already in the second grade or higher.

"Once we accepted a third grader. By the time he completed elementary school he still had not memorized the entire Koran and he stopped his studies because his parents took him back home," Nurcholis said.

He said children at the pesantren started to memorize the Koran when they were in the first grade, and by the time they finished elementary school they had the holy book memorized.

"In my experience it is easier for primary school children to memorize the Koran than adults," he said.

The school has some 40 students, both boys and girls, who come from as far away as Bandung, Bogor, Jakarta and cities in Sumatra. They only return home once a year and spend most of their time reading and memorizing the Koran.

"I like it here since I have many good friends," said second grader Yuli Audina Putri, who so far has memorized three of the Koran's 30 sections.

The pesantren's students do not only learn the Koran and Islamic teachings, but are also students at state-run elementary school SDN 3 Tersobo. So apart from paying a monthly fee for the pesantren, the students' parents also pay fees for the state-run school. The pesantren helps take care of the administrative procedures to enroll the children at the school.

The pesantren still allows the children to watch television every Sunday morning from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.

"We watch TV together and we love to see cartoons like Dora Emon," said Dita Nuraini, a 7-year-old girl from Wonosobo, Central Java.

Lessons begin after dawn prayers. About 80 percent of the lessons consist of learning the Koran by heart, including the correct pronunciation, with the remaining devoted to general Islamic teachings.

"After dawn prayer we review the progress from the day before. If the students have memorized the page, we move on to another page. If they haven't we stay on that page," explained Nurcholis, who runs the school along with two other teachers.

Although students are only allowed to return home once a year from the middle of the fasting month of Ramadhan to 10 days after the Idul Fitri celebration, parents are not encouraged to visit their children too often.

"We just don't want the students to get distracted from their studies," said Nurcholis. He said parents were expected to visit their children twice a year.