SURABAYA POST - More than 80 thousand of Islamic school teachers in East Java have not met the qualifications mandated by the law on teachers and lecturers.
The Head of Salafiyah Education Section for Islamic Boarding Schools in East Java Religious Affairs Department, Ahmad Mubasyir, said the data was obtained from the EMIS (Educational Management of Information System) of Central Religious Affairs Department in 2008.
“The number may either go up or down,” Mubasyir said on Monday, January 4. One of the standards that have not been met by the teachers is the requirement of having a Bachelor degree.
“Some of them do have the degree, but there are more of them who don’t,” Mubasyir, who was accompanied by the Head of East Java Religious Affairs Department’s Islamic Schools and Education Division, Hartoyo, said. Therefore, the teachers would be given a chance to upgrade their formal education background through the Islamic school teacher qualification enhancement.
He also said the particular program had been running for around three to four years. The implementation was mostly carried out by the provincial government of East Java by approaching about 30 Islamic Educational Institutions in East Java.
Those who are interested in joining the program could go to the nearest institutions or the office of East Java provincial government on Jalan Pahlawan, Surabaya. East Java Religious Affairs Department is only assigned to provide Islamic school teachers data, especially the ones in the Department’s database.
Mubasyir explained the high number of teachers without a Bachelor degree was due to the diversity of their educational background.
“Many of them were former students at Islamic boarding schools. Probably because they could read the Koran and they taught students at the mosque, they were appointed teachers,” he said.
A lot of them did not even attend formal education. “They can only teach Koran reading because that’s the only thing they’re good at,” Mubasyir said.
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Translated by: Nataya Ermanti
