Dear members, Assalamu Alaikum.Please see some comments of an young Indonesian scholar on their education system.I am quotinq parts of two letters received from that scholar.
Letter One Quote The alia system ( in Bangladesh ) is almost similar with Islam system of education in here that I've mentioned before. While qaumii madrasah is pretty similar with tradional boarding school which mostly run by Nahdathul Ulama. But at this present time, traditional boarding school (pesantren) has been modernized and the government also support its financial component for traditional boarding school. In general system of formal education both Muhammadiyah and NU also held general education which follow the standart of national curriculum under department of education supervision. Though there is still some special or local contents of curriculum.The difference between them is on the way they call it. Muhammadiyah calls it school of Muhammadiyah, while NU calls it maarif. Speaking about class, in here formal Islam system same as formal general system of education. Second letter Quote Assalamu'alaikum .In my view it's hard to unite those ( various streams ) to one. Because there are many educational elements that should have tobe accommodated. In Indonesia generally the educational system is under Educational Department supervision. For example basic school, secondary school, and high school, and university or college level. But there is also Islamic system of education, which is under Department of Religious affairs such as MIT (Madrasah Ibtidaiyah) which is equal with primary school/basic school, MTS (Madrasah Tsanawiyah) which is equal with secondary school and MA (Madrasah Aliyah) which is equal with high school.These Islamic system of education also include both general curriculum which required by government under Educational Department and Islamic curriculum under Department of Religious affairs. All students of Islamic system of education also attend final exam which is held by Department of Education as prerequirement of passing their grade. If the students of madrasah aliyah (high school level) want to enroll the university level, they will be treated same as other students from general background as long as they pass the entrance test to university. The difference between general and Islamic system of education is that in Islamic system, the proportion of religious contents is much more than general system. Besides Islamic system of education also is not left behind in general curriculum. In contrast, the proportion of religious subject in general system of education is limited, approximately only 2 hours each week, while in Islamic system almost every day there is religious subject. Unquote Shah Abdul Hannan
