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ahdlatul Wathan (NW), the largest Muslim organization in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), is looking to further its promotion of affordable education for all.

“Since its establishment in 1938, NW has worked in three main fields — education, preaching and heath. In the future, we will add people’s economic empowerment,” said the chairman of NW’s NTB executive board, Syahdan Ilyas, on Thursday, after officially opening an education seminar in Mataram.

Over 300 participants joined the two-day seminar. They were mostly representatives from NW educational institutions both across NTB and from beyond. Also joining the seminar was NTB Governor M. Zainul Majdi, who is also the chairman of the organization’s central executive board.

Syahdan said NW developed education that was inclusive, transformative, progressive and competitive, by cooperating with other institutions, including those from outside NTB and even abroad.

“NW also pushes the government to provide affordable education for the people,” Syahdan said.

Although privately run, according to Syahdan, schooling at all NW elementary, junior and senior high schools is provided free of charge. Only the tertiary education requires tuition fees.

“For the university level, we have developed cooperation with foreign research universities in the Netherlands, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Japan,” he said.

Data from the organization shows that at least 784 NW educational institutions have been established in the NTB islands of Lombok and Sumbawa. They comprise Islamic boarding schools, elementary schools, junior and senior high schools and universities.

Outside NTB, NW, which claims to have 1.5 million followers, runs 47 schools, from elementary up to senior high level, scattered across Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Bali and Jakarta.

In terms of economic empowerment, Syahdan said the organization has been developing sharia cooperatives. It currently has some 50 cooperatives and plans to add 50 more by next year. “We will also establish two sharia credit banks [BPR] in Lombok and Sumbawa next year.”

“NW chooses to preach through education. Indeed, our field of preaching is education,” Governor Zainul Majdi said at the forum.

He underlined the urgency for NW workers, supporters and executives to really understand the importance of education. “There are already many good people in NTB but not many who are capable of helping others,” he said.

NW was founded in 1938 in East Lombok by the late Maulana Syekh Zainuddin Abdul Madjid, the grandfather of Governor Zainul Majdi.