Kids throughout Indonesia were no doubt happy to hear the news last week that the country’s school system will be switching from the previous six-day per week schedule to a five-day schedule starting next school year. But an announcement from the education ministry indicating that religion education classes would be removed from the class curriculum as part of the move to the five-day schedule is likely to be much more controversial.
The Ministry of Education and Culture (Kemdikbud) said that, as part of the newly shortened school schedule, it would put an end to religious lessons in the classroom and replace them with religious education components that could done at outside places of worship.
“The five-day school schedule does not fully take place in schools, the students spend only some hours in the classroom and the rest outside the classroom,” said Minister of Education and Culture Muhadjir Effendy during a working meeting with Commission X of the House of Representatives in Jakarta on Tuesday as quoted by state news agency Antara.
Muhajdjir elaborated on the idea by saying that schools would still provide religious education by taking students to houses of worship or bringing madrasah teachers to school. If the students received religious education outside the classroom then religious lessons would no longer be required in class, he reasoned.
The minister then said that Kemendikbud would organize the technical implementation of the religious education components outside the classroom and align them with the new curriculum.
Religious studies has long been a major component of Indonesia’s national curriculum, with schools required to provide separate classes and teachers to students from each of the country’s six officially recognized faiths. The religious education requirement in Indonesian schools has been criticized for discriminating against religious minorities and taking time and resources away from other areas of education that Indonesian students are severely lacking in.
Kemendikbud’s new policy of having outside religious institutions take care of religious education seems like it could be a good solution to these problems. However, it also seems likely to be an unpopular policy with many Indonesians, who have been taught to treat anything regarding the removal or elimination of religion as the equivalent to supporting atheism (which is illegal in Indonesia), as seen in the cartoon below illustrating a story about the education minister’s plan.
https://www.facebook.com/indopos/posts/1581551028545297
In fact, initial reactions to the minister’s plan must have been negative enough that the ministry released a follow-up statement clarifying that religious education would not be removed entirely but only shifted to outside places of worship.
