Ministry of Religious Affairs Immediately Forms Directorate General of Pesantren

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - The discourse on the establishment of the Directorate General of Islamic Boarding School (Pesantren) in the environment of the Ministry of Religious Affairs has appeared a long time ago.

In his leadership era, the Minister of Religious Affairs (Menag) RI, Prof. KH committed to fight for the establishment of this new director general.

“The Ministry of Religious Affairs will soon establish a special Directorate General that will take care at the same time to maintain the islamic boarding school,” Prof. Nasaruddin said while attending the 42nd Harlah celebration, Pesantren Islam Miftachussunnah ll, Istighosah Kebangsaan, and the Heroes' Day Memorial at Al-Akbar National Mosque, Surabaya, East Java, Thursday (14/11/2024).

This was conveyed by Menag in the presence of thousands of worshippers, as well as the personalities present. Among the personalities present at this event were General Chairman of the Department of Nahdlatul Ulama KH Yahya Cholil Staquf, Head of Pondok Pesantren lslam Miftachussunnah ll KH Miftachul Akhyar, Rector of Sunan Ampel State Islamic University Surabaya Muzakki, Head of East Java Regional Office Ahmad Sruji Bahtiar, and Head of Surabaya City Government Office Muhammad Muslim

Prof. Nasaruddin said that the islamic boarding school is an institution that is purely born from the womb of the archipelago. He added that the fact shows that the pioneer of systematic education in the history of the Indonesian nation is the islamic boarding school. This happened even before the Dutch came to Indonesia.

So, he continued, it is time now for this boarding house to seize its prime as it has in the past. “It's time for this boarding school lodge to host it inside its own home, in this country,” said the Grand Imam of Jakarta's Istiqlal Mosque.

Furthermore, Prof. Nasaruddin explained, the promulgation of the law on boarding schools is a form of the presence of the Ministry of Religious Affairs giving existence and legitimacy to the boarding school.

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“Our next task is how to continue the existence of the islamic boarding school,” Prof Nasaruddin said.

According to him, the cultivation of character in boarding schools is very effective. The boarding system in the boarding school allows the queuers to be supervised for 24 hours.

“And this is among the advantages of boarding schools. Because the time that is often prone to causing problems is after returning home from school,” said Prof. Nasaruddin.

“That's why the housing system implemented in boarding schools has been adopted by schools in the UK and Australia,” he said.