Ministry Of Religion: 56 Thousand Madrasah Teachers Not Yet Bachelor Degree

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Religion stated that as many as 56 thousand madrasah teachers in Indonesia did not meet the criteria for a full bachelor's or bachelor's degree, even though the government had required teachers to have at least a bachelor's degree by Law No. 14/2005 on teachers.

"This is indeed one of the priorities of our work to eradicate them", said Director of Teachers and Education Personnel (GTK) at the Ministry of Religion Muhammad Zain in a written statement received in Jakarta, reported by Antara, Saturday, June 5.

Zain said that madrasah teachers who did not have a bachelor's degree should be prohibited from teaching based on the 2005 regulation on these teachers.

However, currently, the madrasa teachers are still given time to adjust because the government provides time allowances based on the difficulties they face. This allowance is stated in Government Regulation Number 74 of 2008 concerning Teachers.

Meanwhile, the Director-General of Islamic Education of the Ministry of Religion, Muhammad Ali Ramdhani, asked the rectors of Islamic campuses to be aware of this fact. The majority of teachers who have not a bachelor's degree are in disadvantaged, frontier, and outermost (3T) areas.

According to him, the teachers who have not S1 are mostly central figures for the education unit in their environment. Thus, they can't take long vacation breaks just for face-to-face lectures to pursue S1.

"If they study in the city, their school can be disbanded", said Ali Ramdhani.

Therefore, he stated that the state must be present in providing education for these fighters by establishing a Cyber Islamic University or cyber-based Islamic university.

Initially, there was the idea of forming a kind of open Islamic university, but the idea developed into a Cyber Islamic University to overcome these problems.

The idea of cyber lectures is fully realized by using an online system, starting from registration, the learning process, to graduation.

Currently, concept maps, modules, and distance learning models already exist, so they will be ready to be applied soon.

"This is a tough job because currently 58 campuses will be involved. If the capacity is calculated, it will take more than 10 years to get 56,000 teachers to become complete undergraduates", he said.

This cyber university model will also be needed by Indonesian citizens who are outside the territory, such as Indonesian migrant workers. In their spare time after work, they can study through this platform.