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NU says full-day school threat to its mission
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President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and NU chairman Said Aqil Siroj are having their lunch together in State Palace Jakarta on Jan 11. (JP/Anton Hermansyah)
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hairman of the country's largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Said Aqil Siraj called on President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to drop the plan to make it mandatory for all schools in the country to extend the school hour to eight hours per day.
The NU chairman said that if the plan materialized, which would translate into a full-day school policy as proposed by Culture and Education Minister Muhadjir Effendy, it could disrupt the operation of hundreds of madsassa diniya, traditional Islamic schools run by his organization.
"We can accept if the full-day school policy is optional. In fact, some schools have introduced the system, but don’t make it formal with a regulation,” Said Aqil said after a meeting with the President at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta.
Students of madrassa diniya, attend their classes in the afternoon after concluding their morning sessions at public schools.
Said Aqil said currently NU runs 76,000 madrassa diniya across the country.
The traditional Islamic school has played key role in introducing a tolerant interpretation of Islam for decades and Said Aqil said he was concerned that the full-day school policy would interfere with the process.
“If the reason [for introducing the full-day school policy] is to build character and prevent radicalism, they [the students] may even become more radicals without madrassa,” he said.
He also maintained that NU's rejection to the plan had nothing to do with the fact that Muhadjir had background in Muhammadiyah, the second largest Islamic organization, which was often seen as a rival organization to NU .
"Even if the minister came from NU, I would still be against the policy," he said. (bbn)
