East Java Governor Soekarwo said the program was to be launched to help improve the teaching skills of teachers at pesantren, so that they would have the same level of mastery as teachers at formal education institutions.

"We're now studying the most suitable model for a development and supervision program for them," Soekarwo told reporters Wednesday.

He added that through the program, each of the teachers would be given a monthly development and supervision program fund of Rp 300,000 (US$32). The program, he said, would be tightly monitored so as to prevent it from being misused by irresponsible people.

Soekarwo said the program would also provide the teachers with an accreditation on reaching the required standard.

Data from the provincial Education Agency show there are nearly 6,500 pesantren across East Java, spread over its 38 municipalities/regencies.

They exclude more than 6,600 informal Islamic elementary schools and nearly 2,600 informal Islamic junior high schools, employing 75,095 and 57,032 teachers respectively.

Soekarwo said his administration would provide an operational fund for the pesantren and Islamic school students that would be allocated from the provincial budget, together with the fund for improving and developing the teachers' skills. He said the program would be realized next year.

"We will allocate some Rp 185 billion for the programs, which will be combined with the respective regency/municipality budgets," he said.

He added the students' program would include more than 760,000 students from Islamic elementary schools and nearly 150,000 from Islamic junior high schools. The operational fund would also be provided to more than 750,000 pupils (santri) of elementary school level and more than 100,000 santri of junior high school level. Each student, he said, would receive between Rp 15,000 and Rp 20,000 per month.

Deputy Governor Saifullah Yusuf said the provincial administration planned to issue a bylaw on a one-roof education management system that would unite formal and informal pesantren education under the authority of one administrative agency.

Currently, formal education comes under the authority of the Education Agency while pesantren or other religious education is under the Religious Affairs Agency.

Doing so, according to Saifullah, would result in equality in both curriculums and educational facilities at the formal schools and the pesantren.

"We cannot just ignore pesantren when we talk about education. Unfortunately, despite the government's nine-year compulsory education program, pesantren are not even included in the national education domain," Saifullah said.

He added that 3,000 pesantren teachers in East Java had received scholarships from the provincial administration last year, to continue their studies at a higher level and to join teacher certification programs.

"Once they graduate, they will not only help improve educational standards but also they will receive the same allowances as their fellow teachers in formal schools. This means there will no longer be any discrimination between them," he said.

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