Indonesia to Set Up Islamic Boarding School Endowment Fund

TheIndonesia.id - Deputy Chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly Hidayat Nur Wahid hopes that the pesantren's endowment fund will soon be set as stipulated in Law No. 18 of 2019 concerning Islamic Boarding Schools or Pesantren. He hopes that Islamic education such as Islamic boarding schools get fair rights from the state.

"The government has made the Pesantren Law and the Ministry of Education will revise the National Education System Law, it is hoped that the regulation can lead to the benefit of the nation and state, including Islamic education, pesantren, and others," said Hidayat Nur Wahid in his statement, Sunday, August 28, 2022.

HNW conveyed this after inaugurating the Tareem Girls Dormitory Building and the Modern Islamic Boarding School of Baitussalam Prambanan Waqf Board, Yogyakarta, last Saturday.

HNW considers it very important for the government to pay serious attention and help religious education, such as madrasas, pesantren, and others, to develop. "For example, for Islamic boarding schools, there is already Law No. 18 of 2019 concerning Islamic Boarding Schools and its implementing regulations governing the Pesantren Endowment Fund," said the alumni of the Darussalam Gontor Islamic Boarding School, Ponorogo.

HNW assesses that the government's attention to Islamic boarding schools is normatively very good because a Law on Islamic Boarding Schools has been made. According to him, the regulation is an extraordinary acknowledgment of Islamic boarding schools because this is the first time there is a Law on Islamic Boarding Schools.

"President Joko Widodo has signed Presidential Regulation No. 82 of 2021 concerning Funding for the Implementation of Islamic Boarding Schools (Dana Abadi)," he said.

He considered that Presidential Regulation (Perpres) Number 82 of 2021 was a follow-up to Law Number 18 of 2019 concerning Islamic Boarding Schools. According to him, Article 23 paragraph (2) of Law Number 18 of 2019 states that the Pesantren Endowment Fund aims to ensure the sustainability of the pesantren education program.

"With the issuance of the Presidential Decree on the Endowment Fund for Islamic Boarding Schools, the government has made legal derivative regulations to implement the Pesantren Law, among others, to set funding assistance for Islamic boarding schools that are long-lasting, until the future," he said.

According to him, the wide door that has been opened needs to be filled properly so that pesantren and madrasas can get evidence that the state is truly fair, not only attaching importance to general education but also pesantren education. He considered all these things to improve the quality of pesantren as a form of religious education in Indonesia.

“From the beginning, pesantren has partnered with the Indonesian people, fighting for Indonesian independence, and filling Indonesia's independence. The role and services of Islamic boarding schools for the nation and state have been proven even before Indonesia's independence so that pesantren should receive fair attention and provide goodness for all," he said.