Eurasian Journal of Educational Research 93 (2021) 425-440 Eurasian Journal of Educational Research www.ejer.com.tr The Growth of Pesantren in Indonesia as the Islamic Venue and Social Class Status of Santri Sa’dullah ASSA’IDI1 A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T Article History: Purpose: This study is an attempt to examine the role Received: 20 Feb.2021 of Pesantren (Islamic boarding schools) on social Received in revised form: 24 Apr. 2021 status of santri in Indonesia. The study aimed to find Accepted: 4 May 2021 out what social class the santri in Pesantren are DOI: 10.14689/ejer.2021.93.21 viewed by the society; to what extent they enjoy Keywords: being a part of historical and cultural legacy and pesantren, boarding schools, social setting; and how pesantren acted as a social social transformation, cultural agent to transform the social status of Kiyai and santri. change, modern era Research Methodology: This research used a quantitative approach to data analysis by using questionnaires. This study has used the Smart-PLS to analyze the relations among variables. A close observation of their lifestyle and contribution to society further shows how pesantren have contributed to improving the socioeconomic status of students who had attended the pesantren. Findings: The support system and facilities at pesantren help the santri to achieve a respectable position in the society. Pesantren act as social reformers, and such educational institutions that can serve as cornerstones for bringing a change in the society. Implications for Research and Practice: Such change is compatible to scientific and ICT enabled modern infrastructural and technology-based systems. The study recommends not to consider pesantren merely as a religious school, but as a modernized institution that gives competitive knowledge, scientific approach, positive attitude and a cultural value rooted in Islamic ideology. © 2021 Ani Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved 1 Nahdlatul Ulama Islamic University (UNISNU) Jepara Indonesia, e-mail :[email protected], ORCID: 0000-0003-3002-1470 Sa’dullah ASSA’IDI/ Eurasian Journal of Educational Research 93 (2021) 425-440 426 Introduction Pesantren (Islamic Boarding Schools) in Indonesia started as a traditional education system based on a mosque or boarding school, but it is now growing into a modern institution that offers education at all levels, including primary, junior high, high school, and tertiary education. According to the Ministry of Religion, there are 28,194 IBSs in 2020, with a total of 5 million students. There are 21,263 IBS in Java, which includes West Java, Banten, DKI Jakarta, Central Java, and East Java, with 1.5 million students (Ministry of Religion, 2020). The emergence of pesantren indicates a further expansion of Islamic study groups located in mosques or the houses of kiyai and a symbol of Islamic resistance and identity among the santri community (Isbah, 2020; Ismail, 2021). These Islamic Boarding Schools (henceforth, IBS) in 2020 have emerged as the epicenter of social transformation, and are helping transform the competence of santri or students of pesantren into something higher in quality (Isbah, 2020; Putro, 2021). Pesantren education is a system for academic and personal growth has so far been termed as education to teach practical skills and provide social support (Nurhayati & Nurhidayah, 2019). It enables kiyai and santri to become a part of social welfare-based pesantren parenting in order to develop them well-rounded, capable individuals (Ruslin et al., 2019). Specifically, pesantren has worked as a class transformation force in which santri are raised from the lower social class to a class of competence and skills. Pesantren education has definitely proved to be a good educational platform for the poor and the underprivileged. In the history of Pesantren, they have proven to be a place where "care" is provided to disadvantaged children from socially and economically vulnerable families. It is through the pesantren that they are able to learn to become successful people in life (Ismail, 2021). There are leaders and politicians that show concern with pesantren. For example, KH. Nur Iskandar, SQ, caretaker of the Ash-Shiddiqiyyah Islamic boarding school, was able to conquer the capital city of Jakarta. Muhaimin Iskandar, the DPR-Deputy RI's Chairman, Abdul Azis, a member of the DPRD Central Java, and Imam Akhfas, a member of the DPR-D Banyumas, are a few others who are associated with Pesantren. KH. Ma'ruf Amin, Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia, Ida Fauziyah, Minister of Manpower, Khofifah Indar Parawansa, Governor of East Java, and Asip Kholbihi, Regent of Pekalongan district, are among the pesantren students who are currently executive officers. There are among hundreds of santri who have been elected by Indonesians to different positions ranging from village head to president of the Republic of Indonesia (Putro, 2021). The role of pesantren has become prominent to form the social status of the Muslim in the Indonesian society that takes various roles in the country. The religious leaders and ulama from the pesantren education went on to do various things, from working in various professions to teaching in non-pesantren mosques and in other regions of the country. While a number of them have been able to start similar IBS to meet the spiritual and academic needs of Muslims (Putro, et. al, 2021). Pesantrens have social resilience, are able to develop communities, build scientific and cultural traditions, as well as being economically independent. This level of competence places pesantren in the Indonesian social system between the upper- and lower-class categories. In agreement, Ruslin et al. (2019) suggests pesantren parented students are those who Sa’dullah ASSA’IDI/ Eurasian Journal of Educational Research 93 (2021) 425-440 427 have received social welfare benefits, protection, and the environment support in line with the Child Social Welfare Institution standards (LKSA). The main objective of this paper is to supplement the shortcomings of prior studies and analyze how pesantren has helped students with different educational backgrounds to move up in their educational careers. In particular, this paper also explains not only the potential of the pesantren in facilitating class change, but also the significance of the role of the pesantren for sustainability of the pesantren tradition. The researcher notes that pesantren institutions are not only centers where students learn about religious values, but they are also places, where students become empowered, where they become well-educated and prosperous. Although pesantren provide an alternative education option for the lower classes of society, they also provide life-long support to the santri, which goes a long way in developing community. Since community development is becoming increasingly relevant, the importance of pesantren has also increased with the time. Review of Literature Rise and Growth of Pesantren The growth of pesantren education (Islamic Boarding School) was made primarily with the aim to combat the regional Islamist terrorism (Gentzkow and Shapiro 2003) though the Indonesians soon deciphered ‘the spirit of education’ and ‘socialization’ process in this type of education (Downer, 2007; Nilan, 2009). A pesantren is no doubt developed upon the erstwhile madrasahs (day schools) but in modern Indonesia. It includes a pondok (dormitory) and rightly called boarding schools. In a more formal language, pesantren are also called pondok pesantren. Pondok literally means a ‘hut’, while pesantren means ‘a place of the santri or a student’. While erstwhile madrasahs laid more emphasis on the “socialization” process within family and community, pesantren were involved in shaping environments for the coming generation and mortifying their “formative years” (Geertz, 1960). They were ‘total institutions’ where various ‘mortifications of the self’ took place, a kind of “reconstruction” which normally would not take place in open social contexts. Though pesantren used to be equated with asylums and prisons, the ground reality of IBSs is that they are growing into institutions that can produce pious modern Muslim citizens with a thirst for knowledge of subjects like Islamic theology, law, Arabic grammar, mathematics, logic, and natural sciences (Geertz, 1960). They were ‘total institutions’ where various ‘mortifications of the self’ took place, a kind of “reconstruction” which normally would not take place in open social contexts. Though pesantren used to be equated with asylums and prisons, the ground reality of IBSs is that they are growing into institutions that can produce pious modern Muslim citizens with a thirst for knowledge of subjects like Islamic theology, law, Arabic grammar, mathematics, logic, and natural sciences (Geertz, 1960). In the past, pesantren were found only in Java, but today the pesantren are commonly established in other regions of Indonesia as this term has been adopted by the central government to refer to IBS (Azizah, Ningsih, & Djunaidi, 2020). The Sa’dullah ASSA’IDI/ Eurasian Journal of Educational Research 93 (2021) 425-440 428 development of pesantren is thus tremendous, showing a huge increase all over Indonesia. Table 1 shows the number of pesantren, santri and education units operated by pesantren in Java. Table 1 Number of pesantren and its santri in Java by 2020 No Province Number of Education Santri Non-staying pesantren unit staying in santri pondok 1 West Java 8343 5465 148.987 306.728 2 Banten 4579 2884 60.897 96.842 3 DKI Jakarta 102 28 17.355 6.568 4 Central Java 3787 1992 166.605 132.269 5 East Java 4452 794 323.293 241.006 21.263 11.163 717.137 1.500.500 Source: Ministry of Religion, 2020 The modern day pesantren are advanced form of Madrasahs as they share many common characteristics: mosque, dormitory, students (popularly called santri), and kiyai (an Islamic scholar who leads pesantren). The central place is occupied by a mosque where the students and kiyai pray five times a day, and do other activities that involve a large number of people, such as public lectures, collective prayers, and public preaching.