Minister Of Religion Admits There Is Inequality Between Madrasahs And Public Schools

Illustration of madrasa (ANTARA) schools

JAKARTA - Minister of Religion (Menag) Nasaruddin Umar acknowledged that there was an imbalance between education in madrasas and public schools. He made this statement during a working meeting (raker) with Commission VIII of the DPR at the parliament complex, Senayan, Jakarta, Tuesday 11 November.

Nasaruddin then compared the salaries of madrasas teachers with public schools. He said that there were madrasas teachers who were paid Rp. 100,000 per month.

"Compared with schools across the street, the minimum salary is Rp. 4.5 million and every 3 months there is an upgrading for briefing teachers to improve their quality. So it's very sad for the nation's children," said Nasaruddin.

In addition to teachers, continued Nasaruddin, inequality also occurs for madrasas students with public schools.

Nasaruddin said, there are madrasah students who lack books. This view seems to be in contrast to the majority of public school students who are sufficient.

According to him, this inequality occurs due to budget differences at the Ministry of Religion and the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education (Kemendikdasmen).

"Let's imagine earlier what was called digitalization assistance for public schools for Rp 10 trillion, madrasas only got Rp 81 billion. So very, very lame," he said.

Nevertheless, Nasaruddin admitted that he could still take the positive side behind this inequality. He said that the majority of madrasa alumni excel in academic matters rather than public school students.