RI's 'madrasah' producing techno-illiterates

Mochtar Buchori, Educator, Legislator, Jakarta, mbuchori@indo.net.id

Western observers have concluded that in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the madrasah (Islamic schools) are a hotbed for Islamic fundamentalism and a breeding ground for terrorism. They wonder whether this is also the case with Indonesian madrasah.

Indonesian madrasah differ in several respects from the ones in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. Basically, here madrasah train students to live according to the commands and prohibitions of Islam. Here, Islam is taught as a way of life. These are the madrasah that according to Bassam Tibi, the renowned professor of religious studies, belong to the "cultural Islam" camp.

But in some madrasah students are meticulously prepared to believe that there is just no human justice possible in a country that is so heavily influenced by Western culture dominated by Christians and Jews; and that in this country justice will arrive only if the people return to the pure teachings of Islam and reinstate the governance practices of Prophet Muhammad. These are the madrasah that consider themselves as parts of, using again the above professor's terminology, "political Islam."

Cultural Islam madrasah generally employ a relatively liberal educational agenda. This can be witnessed in the schools run by the Ministry of Religious Affairs, and by private madrasah led or supervised by tolerant Islamic leaders.

Political Islam madrasah, on the other hand, have opted to carry out a more radical educational agenda. This is usually implemented in private madrasah, led by Islamic clerics with radical leanings.

According to the Ministry, Indonesia has 37,362 madrasah, of which only 3,226 (8.63 percent) are run by the state, while the remaining 34,136 (91.34 percent) are run and controlled by private organizations. This is a rather unfortunate situation for the country, the reason being that private madrasah are more difficult to regulate than state-run ones.

The educational agenda adopted by a madrasah will determine whether its students will say "yes", "maybe", or "no" to calls to join fundamentalist movements.

The philosophy followed by madrasah in general is that life in the hereafter is much more important than life in this profane world. Religious education is thus most important, whereas education on the physical world and nature's laws is considered of little value or no value at all.

Many students therefore become ill equipped to take an active part in the modern sector of the country's economy. They are very disadvantaged when they have to compete against graduates of non- religious schools.

Attempts have been made to introduce science education into the madrasah, a decision driven by two reasons.

First, it is believed that science education will create a more balanced view of life among students. Second, it is also believed that through science education young Indonesian Muslims will become familiar with the facts and basic tenets of science and technology, a culture that is so important in this new century. No Indonesian Muslim should therefore be allowed to become scientifically and technologically illiterate.

This effort, however, has only been partially successful in cultural Islam madrasah run by the state and by private madrasah under the leadership of liberal-minded clerics. In political Islam madrasah run by orthodox clerics, this effort has met with strong resistance. Their argument is that science education will reduce the students' faith, their iman; their belief in Allah, and in all the divine rules concerning life.

Such madrasah are therefore a place where students' minds are shaped for an unbalanced way of life. It is a place where believing is considered much more important than knowing. It is a place where indoctrination is carefully honed and critical thinking is neglected. The final result is that such Indonesian madrasah have inadvertently become a breeding ground for religious conservatism and fanaticism, in addition to scientific illiterates.

Then, for those students, the leap to fundamentalism is but a small step. But generally speaking, two extra factors are needed to make fundamentalists and terrorists out of these people. These are, economic hardship and the feeling of being politically suppressed. And these are the very things that have been manipulated by fundamentally extremist clerics.

There are two other reasons why this effort has only been partially successful. First, there is a scarcity of teachers in "modern" subjects such as English, mathematics and natural sciences within the madrasah.

At the high school level (aliyah), there were 661,104 students throughout the country during the academic year of 2001 to 2002, served by 831 English teachers, 852 math teachers, 731 physics teachers, 425 chemistry teachers, and 480 biology teachers.

This equates to a 795 to 1 student/teacher ration English; 776:1 in mathematics; 914:1 in physics; 1,555:1 in chemistry; and 1,377:1 in biology. So, given these poor ratios, how can students realistically receive decent instruction in those subjects, let alone a balanced view of the demands of life in this world and those of life in the hereafter?

The second reason is the failure among political Islam madrasah to mention "Indonesia" in their teachings about Islam. It is "Islamic education" they talk about, and not "Islamic education in Indonesia." It is tarikh, i.e. the history of Islam, they are teaching, without adding that the spread of Islam in Indonesia has its own unique history.

Students thus overlook Indonesia and Indonesian nationalism as a real cultural and political context in their deliberations about how to implement the teachings of Islam in their daily lives. Defending Islam in global terms is a challenge that these students understand very well. But defending Islam without sacrificing the interest of the nation is difficult for them to comprehend.

Whether the resulting unbalanced attitude towards life and illiteracy or semi-literacy in science and technology leads to a reactionary fundamentalism depends on the circumstances in their respective educational environments.

This is a serious handicap for a country that is still struggling to revive its economy and regain respect from the international community. It is a real obstacle for a country that is still struggling to revive its almost forgotten democracy. This will make it very difficult for the country to shift from an economy based on agriculture and rather outdated industry to an information economy that needs a strong army of knowledge workers familiar with science and technology.