Indonesia Considering Free Madrassas Program

Posted on Jan 05, 2011

Indonesian Minister of Religious Affairs Ali Suryadharma said the development of free madrassas program is currently under review by the Religious Affairs Ministry.

The Ministry has budgeted USD 2.7 billion for the 2011 educational funds and currently considering waiving the school fee for both private and public madrassas in Indonesia. The Minister says that he expect the provincial government to be more active in this program.

“The Ministry is hoping that Riau Province Government participated in the development of free madrassas. So far, nearly 91.8 percent of the madrassas in Riau are private Islamic schools an their infrastructure facilities conditions are quite alarming,” said Suryadharma in Pekanbaru, Riau, on Wednesday (05/01/2011)

One of the Madrassas in Indonesia

Suryadharma mention that so far the local government role in the development of madrassas is seen to be insufficient as they more focused on normal public schools. According to the Minister, majority of these madrassas was founded by individual who wants a balance between the worldly and the hereafter.

“Along with its teachers, madrassas need more attention from the local government. Teachers at non madrassas government owned institution earns as much as USD 200 a month and that’s okay, but private teachers are really harsh, some of them only paid USD 20 per month”, says the Minister.

In addition, only a few of madrassas teachers have a degree and the local governments really must take a more active role in this.

At the moment, there is no regulation regarding the status of madrassas in the Indonesian education system. As a result, hundreds of thousands of graduates from various madrassas finds it difficult to continue their studies through a normal education.