RI's 'madrasah' producing techno-illiterates

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.