REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA — Director of Education of Diniyah and Pondok Pesantren of the Ministry of Religious Affairs (Kemenag) Basnang Said said that the government is ready to provide Rp 139 trillion in aid funds as a “Pesantren Dana Abadi” packaged in the form of scholarships of the Educational Fund Management Institution (LPDP).

According to him, the funds can be useful for improving the quality of education and also human resources among boarding schools in the country.” The funds will be provided in the form of scholarships for degree programs and short courses abroad for ustadz and santri from boarding schools throughout Indonesia,” Basnang Said said through an official statement on Thursday (17/10/2024).

According to him, the current government does give a positive view towards the Santri people. He explained that the government continues to raise aid for boarding schools to increase economic empowerment and education. Worshippers and santri. - (BETWEEN PHOTO/Adeng Bustomi)

In this year, the funds set up reached IDR 250 billion. The funds were used to fund the first cohort of scholarship recipients on Wednesday (16/10), consisting of a group of prospective students who are going to study in Jordan.” In the near future, that will follow to the United States and the United Kingdom,” he said.

He continued, this program is one of the implementations of the creation of Law No. 18 of 2019 on Pesantren, which has been regulated in Perpres No. 82 of 2021 on the Pesantren Abadi Fund.

Not only Dana Abadi Pesantren, the Ministry also initiated the Pesantren Independence Program, which has successfully made the pesantren realize its own business entity. Since its introduction in 2023, the program has now reached 2,074 boarding schools receiving incubation assistance with 275 types of businesses.

He believes that by 2024 there are as many as 1,500 boarding schools believed to be receiving this assistance. Even so, the new ones are only liquid as many as 836 boarding schools.

Even so, the government desperately wants boarding schools to be economically self-sufficient so that there is no dependence with other parties.” If the boarding school is not independent, he is easily influenced by local political interests. If they are independent, their educational and preaching functions will be better,” he said.

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