Opinion

PESANTREN ANNUQAYAH AND EDUCATIONAL NETWORK WITHIN PESANTREN

Abd A`la

As actualization of what have got during Pesantren-ITD workshop at Amherst, Massachusetts on September-October 2002, Pesantren Annuqayah of Guluk-Guluk Sumenep Madura[1] has developed a program having the form of network within pesantrens in district of Sumenep. The network has been held periodically with its venue consecutively from one pesantren to other pesantren.

Its mission is to originate pesantren to its genuine values such as spreading self-sufficiency, appreciating of local wisdom, and affirming religious moderation, including empowering community. Besides, it focuses on maintaining education as process of transformation in three main aspects, intellectual, spiritual, and emotional quotient.

From this point, the network discusses how to anchor it in the life world changing time to time. It is very urgent to conserve and develop such these values since some pesantren tends to neglect them.Main activities of the network are both discourse and praxis putting into workshop, seminar and likewise, besides doing advocating of communities in facing educational problems, and solving them in turn. In some workshop having been held so far, the participants recognized urgency of reformulating the pesantren education based on noble pesantren principles on one side, and contextualization the ideals into concrete realities on the other side.

To some extent, its activities have been being enchanting. Within the pesantrens, there has been enthusiasm to criticize the recent teaching methodologies, curriculum, and the concepts in it[2] as well as to assess the state policy not supporting development of the real education. Parallel with it, in the 2004 regional general election the network held political education for people to vote only in accordance with their own preference. The impact is very wonderful since about 30 percent of the voter did not join in the election.

This phenomenon showed emerging of consciousness among the people to empower their own life. Next to that, it demonstrates strong effort to maintain pesantren's autonomous and community's tending disappear recently. Minimally, they have had more appreciation of education significances from which they hope they reach the better condition in all aspects of the life.

Anyhow, it does not tell all the condition. Beyond its limited successful, the network has some weaknesses. One of them is its strong dependence on key persons. Related to this, another problem emerges laying on its continuity of the network. The other thing is its inertia to respond some problem. Still another problem is that this pesantren network reached only territory of Sumenep and small part of Pamekasan.

Based on the description above, the network has to change the weaknesses as challenges to which the network would respond creatively. The network should arrange strategies and plan agenda holistically to make pesantren solid entities in developing education significantly for empowering rural communities to face contemporary life critically, but still in civility, and can appreciate the local wisdom. From this point, the communities can spread substantive Islamic values peacefully together with other groups and organizations, Muslim and non-Muslim, both in Indonesia and overseas©.

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* Presented at International Conference on Islamic Education in Contemporary Indonesia and the Philippines, University of Southern Mindanao, Kabacan, Cotabato, Philippines, September 11-14, 2006.

[1] Madura is an island, part of East Java Province. Madura its self consist of four territories, Bangkalan, Sampang, Pamekasan, and Sumenep. Sumenep lays in the eastern part of the island.

[2] The participants, for example, had a strong critique against meaning of akhlaq (ethic) being biased as mere such a courteous, even just lip service. They proposed to interpret to its genuine meaning covering justice, equality, maintenance of peace etc.