MADRASAH Part 2

PUBLIC AND COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP IN
MADRASAH EDUCATION IN INDONESIA
II.1 Historical Perspective
When Indonesia entered the New Order Era (1966), Indonesia educational system was developed under two systems: general education and religious/Islamic education. Initially, this dualism was born as a product of Dutch Colonialism, while later, it become the product of two major political bases, Islam and Nationalism. Even though in the later development, the government of Indonesia tried to reconcile the two into one ideology called Pancasila, but the influence of Islam in education could not be easily set aside, for Islamic education had a long history in Indonesia.

II. 1.1. The Colonial Era (Pre-1946)

In the colonial era, the development of madrasah was started with the spirit of reformation within the Muslim society. There were two important factors behind the rise of madrasah. Firstly, the reformists viewed that the traditional Islamic education did not provide adequate pragmatic ability to the society; secondly, there was a fear that the rapid development of Dutch schools could bring a heavy secular thinking in the society. Therefore, the reformists considered that they need to balance secularism with Islamic education, through the development of madrasah. With varieties of schools of thought, madrasahs spread out in many places in Indonesia.
The Dutch policies towards Islamic education were to pit some restriction on the madrasahs, for they feared the rise of young-Muslim-educated militias that could threaten Dutch. One of the Dutch policies to monitor madrasahs was the issuance of Teacher Ordinance to religious teachers. The policy required religious teachers to have license from the government. Only few religious teachers could receive the license from the government. The history had pressurized the Dutch to issue this policy due to the experience of 1888 Cilegon war towards the Dutch that made the Dutch to learn lessons to restrict Islamic activities. Other policy attempt to restrict Islamic schools was the issuance of Informal School Ordinance. This ordinance regulated that every school should report its establishment to Dutch government and seek approval. The report should include school’s curricula and other information.
The reactions of Muslims towards the Dutch policies were 1) defensive, 2) progressive, and 3) rejection. The defensive reaction was by establishing madrasahs in the remote areas without permit from the Dutch, progressive reaction was by trying to soften the Dutch discrimination towards madrasahs. However, despite such pressures and tight monitoring from the Dutch, the establishment of madrasahs in Java, Sumatra and Kalimantan, especially in the remote areas, could not be hampered.
With several modifications to soften the regulations, the discrimination policies towards madrasahs still continues through the Japanese colonial time. The community responded by establishing Majelis Islam Tinggi (The Supreme Islamic Board). Later Majelis Islam Tinggi became the motor behind of the flourishing growth of MI during the Japanese occupation.

II.1.2 The ‘Old-Order’ Era (1945-1966)
The development of madrasahs in the era of ‘old order’ was closely related with the role of the MORA that was established on January 3 1946. This institution intensively struggled for including Islamic education into Indonesian education system by including religious subject into schools’ curricula and through the development of madrasahs. The efforts of MORA were: 1) introducing religious subjects in public and private schools; 2) including general science in madrasahs curriculum, and 3) developing schools of Religious Teachers (PGA) to produce religious teachers for public schools and madrasahs.
The establishment of MORA had strengthened the position of madrasahs in Indonesia education. Furthermore, the efforts of the National Islamic figures such as Ahmad Dahlan, Hasyim Asy’ari Abd Mahmud Yunus together with MORA, enhanced the quality of madrasahs education and expanded their number. The development of PGA gave an opportunity to produce qualified religious teachers that would teach in madrasahs.
By the middle of the 60’s, the development of madrasahs had spread at almost all over Indonesia. It was reported that the number of MI had reached to 13,057 madrasahs. At least there were 1,927,777 students enroled in those madrasahs. At junior secondary level (MTs), the number had reached to 776 madrasahs with 87,932 students, while at the senior secondary level the number had reached 16 madrasahs with 1,881 students. These numbers show that the role of madrasahs in educating Indonesian has been significant.
In 1966, the People’s representative issued an act No. XXVII of 1966 that allowed private madrasahs convert in into public madrasahs. As a result, 123 MI, 182 MTs and 42 MAs converted into public Madrasahs. With this conversion, the management of madrasahs was totally turned into government, but the remaining madrasahs (about 90 percent) continued to be run by the local community by a yayasan public partnership in private madrasah that fulfilled certain criteria public grants in-aid, secondment & teachers supply of textbooks, etc to limited numbers.

II.1.3. The New Order Era (1966-1998)
In the beginning of New Order Era, the new government continued using the previous policies on madrasah. However, in general, the legal framework of government to support towards madrasahs was not adequate and very weak. In 1972, the former president of Indonesia, Soeharto, issued a Presidential Act No. 34 of 1972 and Presidential Instruction No. 15 of 1974. The acts regulated that the madrasah will be managed under the Ministry of Education and Culture (MOEC) instead of under MORA. The Muslim society viewed the issuance of these regulation as a maneuver to nullify the role and existence of madrasah as a religious institution. The hand-over of madrasah’s management to MOEC was seen as an effort from the government to “secularizing” madrasah and to abolish madrasah from national education system. To calm down the reactions from the Muslims, the government issued the Join Ministerial Act of Three Ministers of MORA, MOEC and MOHA (Ministry of Home Affairs) in 1974, known as SKB Tiga Menteri, under which Madrasahs still remained under MORA but had to teach some general curricula to prescribed by the government.
In order to improve the educational quality of madrasah, in August 1970, the government developed a national madrasah curriculum at all levels. Through the Ministerial Act No. 52 of 1971, the new curriculum was introduced as a national madrasah curriculum. Later, after some revisions and improvements, the curriculum was announced as “1975 Curriculum.” Later, under Education Act No. 2 of 1989, madrasahs were integrated with mainstream of the National Education system and with effect from 1994, they were required to teach the National curriculum of 1994 of Ministry of Education.


II.2. The Present Status and Legal Framework For Madrasah Education in Indonesia
Since decade of 90’s, the government policy towards madrasah has been to integrate madrasah into the national educational system through the issuance of Law No. 2 of 1989 that replaces law No. 4 1950 and No. 12 of 1954. As stated in the Indonesian constitution, every citizen has the right to education. The Education Act No. of 1989 articulates the government’s policy, objectives and guiding principles for Indonesia’s education development for the future is act also provide the basis of the government’s education development strategies and plans under its Second Twenty-Five-year Development Plan (1994/95 to 2019/20).
In the General Guidelines of State Policy (GBHN), the priority of the Second Twenty Five Year Plan (1994-2019) is economic and human resource development as a driving force for development of the country. The primary target of the development in education sector is the universalization of the nine-year basic education within next 15 years and improving the quality, access and relevance of education that will lead to and increase in the quality of the Indonesian human resources. This is a prerequisite for enabling the country to increase its productivity and competitiveness during the approaching the twenty-first century, which is expected to be an are of free trade within ASEAN region by the year 2003 and Asia Pacific open trade and investment by the year 2020. In this context, education has been viewed as an important investment in human capital and contributory to socio-economic development by endowing individuals with the means to improve their health, skills, knowledge, and capability for socio-economic advancement.
Annex 1 reflects a summary of various Decrees issued by Republic of Indonesia to integrate various type of schooling (including madrasahs) under the umbrella of the National Education System, making them eligible for Government assistance, and providing opportunities for greater public-private partnership. The purpose of GBHN, Education Act No. 2 of 1989 and Decrees issued thereunder is to promote equitable educational access, quality and relevance for all citizen of Indonesia.
Under Education Act No. 2 of 1989, madrasahs have become integral part of national education system in providing schooling. At the primary level, madrasahs Ibtidaiyah enroll 11 percent of the total enrolment. In 1999, there are 21,454 MI of which 20,000 or 93.2 percent were private indicating the dominant role of private madrasahs at this level. At the junior secondary level, MTs enroll about 18.35 percent of the total enrolment. In 1999, there were 9,860 MTs including 8,682 (or 88.1 percent) private MTs. Student-wise, the private madrasahs enroll much higher proportion of students. In the MI, private sector students accounted for 91.0 percent of the total 2,894,128 students. In the MTs, private students numbered 1,320,198 or 72,8 percent of the total enrolment of 1,813,135. Thus, the madrasahs system is dominantly private at all levels while private schools under MONE number only 6 percent at the primary level and 46 percent at the secondary level. The madrasahs are required to teach the National Curricula prepared by MONE for its schools, in addition to the religious curricula. Now madrasah students are required to take the same National Examination as required of students of MONE schools. Thus, madrasah face a challenging task to provide quality education in order to compete with MONE schools.

II.3 Rationale For Public-Community Partnership in Basic Education
The basic rationale for Government intervention in education through public community partnership is to assist in removing barriers of cost and isolation that keep many of the rural poor out of school. In rural Java, for example, total expenditure per junior secondary student is equivalent to approximately 86 percent of per capita household expenditure for households of the lowest quintile. Junior secondary education is therefore beyond the reach of many of the poor and near poor. The opportunity costs of keeping children in school exacerbate the problem. Expansion of junior secondary education in the remote rural areas, should be the main area of focus because of its direct benefit to the poor, especially girls who are often disadvantaged in these areas.
The another justification for significant attention by the Government to junior secondary education is that the number of school places is still limited relative to demand, despite substantial outlays by parents and a significant response of the private sector. This inadequacy is evident from continued strong demand for generally more costly private education often of lower quality. Large numbers of unsuccessful applicants to schools, the prevalence of double shifts and large classes in schools, are all indicative of increasing demand for secondary education. These trends make it necessary for the policy-makers to encourage and strengthen the public-private partnership in provision of post-primary education, for which madrasahs have the greatest potential because these are community-base institutions needing public support.
Another rationale for public investment in secondary education relates to likely external benefits associated with investments in secondary education. Research from other countries has pointed to externalities such as reduced fertility and child mortality and improved nutritional status that correlate with female secondary education. For Indonesia, survey results indicate that a mother’s education is an important determinant of prenatal care utilization: more than 90 percent of women with junior secondary education use prenatal care, in contrast to only 75 percent of women with some primary education. Furthermore, analysis of nutritional status in Indonesia finds a strong effect of maternal education on children’s nutritional status: for women with between zero and five years of education, an additional year of education has no impact on the child’s nutritional status, while among women with six to twelve years of education (or more), an additional year of education improves nutritional status significantly.
The role of the Government would therefore be to (a) help expand the number of school places through a combination of direct investment and measures to stimulate further private sector/community participation in the provision of school places, and (b) ensure that the poor are given increased opportunity to participate in the expansion process of schooling.

II.4. Rationale for the Government’s Partnership in Madrasahs’ Quality Improvement
Event though at present financial support from the government to the private madrasahs is very small, madrasahs still need partnership with the government. This is especially needed for getting madrasahs recognition and status, and getting financial and teaching materials assistance and maintaining minimum educational standards. Through the Three Ministrial Joint Acts of 1974 and Educational Act No. 2 of 1989, the existence of madrasahs is acknowledged as a part of national education system. Therefore, legally the government programs that support madrasahs include secondment of teachers and principals, provision of textbooks, training for teachers, and some grants assistance. However, government’s assistance to private madrasahs still remains significantly small as compared to their genuine requirements and needs to be enhanced many fold to achieve equity and universalization of basic education.

II.5. The Process and Mechanism of Public-Community Partnership in Development of Madrasah Education.
There are at least two major reasons behind the establishment of madrasah. Firstly, there is a demand from many communities and parents to educate their children in religious institutions; and secondly, there is no education institution provided by the government that is accessible to the community at a reachable distance. When the community feels that they need a madrasah, the community will initiate the development of madrasah by raising funding from the community. The community will establish a yayasan of foundation to manage the development of madrasah. There will always be someone that will donate land for the madrasah and other people will raise donations that come from zakah, infaq, and shadaqah to construct the madrasah building. Later on, when the construction is completed and voluntary teachers are recruited, the yayasan will report to the office of religious affairs at the district level to register the school’s status. When madrasah starts functioning with a good standard, the yayasan applies for accreditation. There are four types of accreditation given by the government: ‘listed’ (lowest), ‘registered’, ‘recognized’, and ‘equivalent’ (highest). After its recognition, the yayasan of the madrasah is registered with MORA office at the district level, it can apply for the INPRES fund (Presidential Instruction Fund) grant available for madrasah ibtidaiyah or primary school to assist the construction of the madrasah. The government also can give assistance in from of secondment of teachers and principals, and textbooks. The process similar for establishing MTs. In the past some madrasah that showed good performance were converted into public madrasahs.

II.6 Cost-sharing between government, parents and the community in Development and Operation Private Madrasahs
Private madrasahs are financed through a variety of sources from government, parents and the community. The most common categories of the sources of their funds are the followings :

II.6.1. Subsidy from Central and Local Governments
Government subsidy comes in the form of grants to purchase school’s equipment and new class construction. Subsidies from the development budget (DIP : Daftar Isian Proyek) for private madrasahs are rare, so most of them do not count on this budget. Routine budget (DIK) grants are given to some madrasahs for teaching activities according to the number of students registered at the madrasahs. Some subsidies are given by the local government for classroom rehabilitation, new classrooms and laboratory construction, teaching materials for the subjects of science and skills development. However, the government subsidies to private madrasahs are irregular and small.

II.6.2 Grants for Special Purposes
This type of grant is small in amount and is rarely available to majority of madrasah. Only selected that are madrasahs eligible to receive the grants yearly some of which are covered in foreign aided projects.

II.6.3. Government Assistance in Forms of Lands, Teaching Materials and Training
On selective basis the government provides limited assistance for teaching materials and conducting training for school principals, yayasan’s staff and teachers, and finance officers. Local government assists selected madrasah through the land grant for development of school facilities. However, the total subsidies received by private madrasahs are very low as compared to the total requirements of the madrasahs.

II.6.4. Secondment of Government Teachers to Madrasahs
One important form of government assistance to the private madrasah is Secondment of government teachers and principals. All the costs of seconded teachers and principals salaries and incentives are borne by the government. However the number of secondment teachers and principals to private madrasah is still very low, where the government only assists less than 10 percent of total teachers required. More than 85 percent teachers of private madrasah are non-permanent (honoraria), while their salaries are paid from monthly school fees and BP3.

II.6.5. Teachers’ Salary Assistance from MORA and MONE
Some of the qualified madrasahs have been taken over by MORA and further developed into a better quality or Model Madrasah. The teacher’s salaries for non-religious subjects (named as NIP-13) are financed by MORA. Now with the requirements to include 1994 National Curricula into all Madrasah’s curriculum, MORA has started to finance the non-religious subjects teachers through NIP-15 budget.

II.6.6. Yayasans’ Income Generating Activities
Some Yayasan are generating income to finance the madrasah’s through some form of businesses and investment (e.g. investment in income generating property). Some are also having a Trust fund in the form of investment or bank deposits.

II.6.7. Foreign Donors Assistance

International donor agencies (e.g. ADB, IDB) have started to provide assistance private madrasahs that teach the 1994 National Curriculum. The assistance includes constructing additional physical facilities, staff development, laboratory equipment’s, and library development. The assistance is given to selected madrasahs that fulfil the criteria identified by donor agency.


II.7 Who Bears the Cost, and Who Benefit from the Partnership?
As indicated earlier, about 90 percent of Madrasahs are private and the government’s assistance to them is extremely small. For example, in case of private MTs, average per pupil expenditure is Rp. 104,000 out of which government inputs is only Rp. 6,000 per pupil, while the remaining cost is borne by the parents or the community. Since constitutionally, basic education is a public responsibility the madrasahs are providing public good at almost no cost to the government. If MTs were not established by the community, the government would have to establish more expensive schools (SMPs) or invest many fold more inputs. Thus most cost of madrasah education is borne by the community but government benefits by saving most of their cost. The community benefits by the collective venture of madrasah development by having direct and easy educational access for their children. Furthermore the local communities have greater say into madrasah’s environment in accordance with their moral values and educational aspirations.