Minister plans to remove religion from in-class curriculum

[Vanhelsing]

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.

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://coconuts.co/jakarta/news/in...ister-plans-remove-religion-class-curriculum/

 

[dafluff]

This is, as they call it, "Fake News". There was never such a plan, not that I would expect it from the Education minister who is a prominent Muhammadiah member.

http://nasional.republika.co.id/ber...ud-tak-akan-hapus-pendidikan-agama-di-sekolah

 

[William King]

It is talking about strengthening religious education through after school activities....

 

[Pimpin]

The majority of students I have talked to find religious classes boring and a waste of class time. I wonder at what age they suddenly feel these classes are useful and worthy of students time.

It's not like they don't get influenced enough about "their" religion in most aspects of their life on a day to day basis. If they continue to have religious classes perhaps it would be better spent attending altogether and learning about as many religions in the world and other philosophies they aren't accustomed to as possible.

Also many students by the time they finish high school are so sick of hearing about Indonesian history that has been drummed into them over and over every year since they started school, they have absolutely no interest in the subject for a lifetime. More history from around the globe?

Broaden horizons. You know like be educated?

 

[fastpitch17]

Because of this.

The NU chairman said that if the plan materialized, which would translate into a full-day school policy as proposed by Culture and Education Minister Muhadjir Effendy, it could disrupt the operation of hundreds of madsassa diniya, traditional Islamic schools run by his organization.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2017/07/11/nu-says-full-day-school-threat-to-its-mission.html

 

[dafluff]

Because of this.



http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2017/07/11/nu-says-full-day-school-threat-to-its-mission.html

This is actually a good observation. There is an ongoing competition between NU and Muhammadiyah in Indonesia since the founding of those organizations. The Education minister is a prominent Muhammadiyah member, and it is not unreasonable to think that the 5 full day program is at least in part motivated to weaken the NU run schools. When the 5 day plan was canned by Jokowi, the announcement was made by the NU chairman, and not the Minister of Education.

https://nasional.tempo.co/read/news...erintah-membatalkan-peraturan-full-day-school

Another obscure area where there is friction is on the regulation of tobacco. Muhammadiyah would love more restrictions on tobacco and tried to get MUI to issue a fatwa that it is haram to smoke in public places. NU who draws a lot of support from East Java tobacco farmers naturally balked at that.

 

[Nimbus]

Unlike NU, Muhammadiyah has its own national curriculum schools and universities, with their version of religious education baked in. A five-day school schedule is as simple as rearranging the classes for them, but it's complicated for NU who runs religious afterschool programs, because they don't run regular schools.

 

[Asun]

What would really be great is to eliminate the whole ministry of religious affairs completely. Just look at how much their budget is every year. If Jokowi really wants to find some cash to fund his infrastructure projects, that's where he should go after, after removing the energy subsidies.

 

[William King]

What would really be great is to eliminate the whole ministry of religious affairs completely. Just look at how much their budget is every year. If Jokowi really wants to find some cash to fund his infrastructure projects, that's where he should go after, after removing the energy subsidies.

Ask Ahok how well tangling with the religious loonies worked out for him...

 

[fastpitch17]

What would really be great is to eliminate the whole ministry of religious affairs completely. Just look at how much their budget is every year. If Jokowi really wants to find some cash to fund his infrastructure projects, that's where he should go after, after removing the energy subsidies.

Add to that figure what the government spends on religious based education. The religious based schools should not be funded by the government.