Jokowi Studying The Proposal To Appoint Special Minister For Islamic Boarding Schools In Today's Memory, October 8, 2017

JAKARTA Memories of today, eight years ago, October 8, 2017, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) promised a serious review of the proposal for the presence of a special minister for Islamic boarding schools. This condition is because Jokowi has seen for himself the rapid development of the world of students.

Previously, the existence of pesantren could not be separated from the long history of Indonesia. Islamic boarding schools are an important forum in the liberation of the Indonesian nation. Islamic boarding schools are considered to be part of the resistance of the Indonesian nation to colonialism and ignorance.

Islamic boarding school religious education institutions are not new. The existence of pesantren to educate the nation's children has been present for a long time. Islamic boarding schools became an important way so that the Indonesian people could escape the shackles of colonialism and ignorance in the Dutch East Indies era.

Islamic boarding schools do not only prioritize religious knowledge. Islamic boarding schools are also the gateway for someone learning other sciences such as science. The presence of pesantren is able to answer the limited number of Bumiputras who can access education. Moreover, the educational methods developed make teachers and students mondok in one complex.

The process of transferring knowledge, culture, and norms of decency also occurred. As a result, pesantren graduates do not only appear as figures who understand religion. They are also figures who have high integrity and are intelligent.

Take for example in the era of the Joko Widodo (Jokowi) government. Jokowi chose many ministers who came from pesantren graduates. There is Hanif Dhakhiri as Minister of Manpower who has been in the Solo pesantren.

There is also Lukman Hakim Saifuddin as Minister of Religion who has been in Gontor. The performance of the students appointed by Jokowi as minister is quite good. This narrative made Jokowi consider the role of students in the national map important.

Jokowi did not waste the opportunity to visit pesantren and asked students to maintain the value of politeness in society. For him, students must be polite and intelligent in order to become the next generation of the nation.

"Let us invite everyone to develop politeness values, polite values, good character values that I see there are many that have been given to the students," said Jokowi to the students of the At-Taufiqy Islamic Boarding School, Pekalongan, Central Java as quoted on the Cabinet Secretariat website, January 8, 2017.

Jokowi's support for Islamic boarding schools and students continues. Jokowi is open to input so that pesantren continues to advance. He wants to listen to all kinds of input related to the development of Islamic boarding school religious institutions.

In particular, Jokowi was proposed to appoint a special minister for Islamic boarding schools. Instead of refusing, Jokowi took it seriously on October 8, 2017. Jokowi also promised to review the wishes of the kiai regarding the existence of special ministers for Islamic boarding schools.

Jokowi felt that the number of students at that time had reached 8 million. This means that there must be someone in charge of pesantren. Jokowi himself already knows the great performance of pesantren graduates. Even though the discourse was never realized.

"That was an input for me, when I decided on Santri Day, that was also input from the kiai in the Islamic boarding school. After that we decided. I got information that the number of students throughout Indonesia was nine million. Very much, so there really has to be someone taking care of them or paying attention to them," said Jokowi as quoted on the page.co, October 8, 2017.