The poor Islamic school of Indonesia

Santi W.E. Soekanto, Contributor, Jakarta

While the international media spotlight recently fell on one madrasah (Islamic school) in Indonesia, the vast majority of these schools do not have anywhere near such a dramatic existence. In fact, thousands of madrasah are gasping under the dual burdens of surviving funding shortages and fighting their poor image as learning institutions.

"This is an ordinary madrasah, not at all a model school," said Komaruddin, the principal of Ibtidaiyah "Raudhatul Islam" (Garden of Islam) in the Muara Gembong subdistrict of Bekasi, which was among the worst affected areas during the recent flooding.

"No, we have never been invited to any local or national competition on anything," Komaruddin said in his office, which has a leaky ceiling. "What can we say, such competitions are usually expensive anyway."

Indeed, the compound of the school, which has 310 students, is dilapidated and grim. "We work here as teachers because of Allah; we understand that it is a form of worship for us to impart knowledge to the students," Komaruddin said. "But I am sorry to say the government, in this case the Ministry of Religious Affairs, has yet to give proper attention to the madrasah."

A number of the teachers are classified as "substitutes", receiving only small honorariums and no benefits.

With teachers earning such meager salaries, Komaruddin said, how can the government expect the madrasah to develop and become better learning institutions? How can the government expect that madrasah will ever be able to meet the goal of education -- as set out in the bill on the national educational system, currently under deliberation, to "develop students' potential to believe and be faithful to one God, and to be healthy, competent, skilled, creative, independent, aesthetic, democratic, responsible people with civic and nationalistic sensibilities".

Madrasah, for a great number of people in Jakarta, are not the first schools of choice for their children. Countless Muslim parents who find "modern" Islamic schools such as Al Azhar prohibitively expensive turn to Christian schools rather than considering madrasah.

"I wonder, have you heard about madrasah gaining a national reputation because of their achievements?" one Muslim mother said. "I haven't."

Minister of Religious Affairs Agil Husin Al Munawar, under whose jurisdiction the madrasah operate, admitted recently that "less than 20 percent" of madrasah graduates continued their studies at university.

"Unless we help them prepare, the remaining 80 percent will go on to be unemployed because their skills are inadequate and employment opportunities limited," he said.

There are some 35,000 madrasah in the country, from kindergartens (Raudhatul Athfal), elementary schools (madrasah Ibtidaiyah), junior high schools (madrasah Tsanawiyah) and high schools (madrasah Aliyah).

According to data, there are 22,035 Ibtidaiyah across the country, 10,365 Tsanawiyah and 3,705 Aliyah. Indeed, 16 percent of all school-age children in Indonesia study at madrasah -- this is especially true in regions where madrasah are more popular, such as South Kalimantan, South Sulawesi, Aceh and West Nusa Tenggara.

Unlike the pesantren that usually have a specific emphasis, such as learning the Koran by heart, the madrasah were conceived to bridge the concurrent demands for general knowledge and religious instruction. Hence the arrangement of 40 percent Islamic teaching and 60 percent general knowledge -- a curriculum designed by both the Ministry of Religious Affairs and the Ministry of National Education.

"Madrasah is the answer to public demands for learning institutions that help students master science and technology, as well as religious instruction," the Ministry of Religious Affairs stated in a policy paper.

The government, however, runs only 6 percent of all madrasah -- a fact that is blamed for the poor quality of many of the institutions. Now, scholars at the religious affairs ministry have delineated a number of steps to be taken to empower and improve these institutions, and to close the gap between the quality of basic competence attained by madrasah and pesantren students and those from general schools.

But the major question is how will Indonesia fund this campaign when it only allocates 3.8 percent of the state budget for education? Compare this to Russia and China, which allocate at least 25 percent of their budgets for education, or Malaysia and Singapore which provide over 10 percent of their budgets, and Taiwan which sets aside 15 percent of its state budget for education?

The answer to this question may determine how successful the government is in putting madrasah on level with other schools in the country.