Malang, NU Online
Islamic baording schools (pesantren) in Indonesia have become a center of learning and dakwa (preaching). The educational institutions have played an important role in the country because it is the oldest system of learning and education.

Chairman of the East Java's Maárif NU Prof. Dr. KH. Abdul Haris made the remaks on the sidelines of a meeting with NU Online here recently.

Mr. Haris said that before the modern education system was introduced by the Dutch, the pesantren had been the only educational institution available in Indonesia.

"It should be noted of course that the pesantren in Indonesia still plays its role as an education centre, but it has also to compete with modern secular educational institutions," he said.

According to him, the pesantren has socially played an important role in the spread of Islam in Indonesia. It has become a means of formal socialisation through which Islamic belief, norms and values are transmitted and inculcated through teaching.

"It also constitutes a medium for developing Islamic precepts and maintaining orthodoxy. The pesantren is but one example of the scholarly tradition and the traditional schools of Islam in Indonesia today," he said, adding that the pesantren maintained the oldest scholarly tradition having ever existed in Indonesia and other Malay regions. (Masdar)