October 22, 2025 | 05:22 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto has approved the establishment of the Directorate General of Islamic Boarding School (Pesantren) within the Ministry of Religious Affairs, coinciding with National Santri Day on Wednesday, October 22, 2025.
Minister of Religious Affairs Nasaruddin Umar said the approval was conveyed through a letter from State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi, numbered B-617/M/D-1/HK.03.00/10/2025, dated October 21, 2025.
The letter instructed the Ministry of Religious Affairs to immediately form the new Pesantren General Directorate.
The directorate will serve as a central government body tasked with consolidating pesantrens across Indonesia. Nasaruddin noted that many pesantrens have yet to be properly documented or receive government support.
“With the establishment of the general directorate, these issues can be addressed more effectively through a broader working mechanism and a more coordinated system,” he said in an official statement.
The proposal for a dedicated Pesantren Directorate dates back to 2019 under then-Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin but stalled until 2021. Under Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, the proposal was resubmitted to the Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform (PAN RB) in 2021 and again in 2023.
The new directorate will replace the previous structure under the Directorate General of Islamic Education, which had primarily managed pesantren educational matters.
“This will also replace the old hajj directorate, which has now moved to its own unit,” Nasaruddin explained.
The directorate will expand the data collection and certification system for pesantrens, ensuring more accurate records and better-targeted development programs.
“Certification has been ongoing, but moving forward, it will be strengthened so that the data becomes more valid and program implementation more organized,” he said.
Director of Pesantren at the Ministry of Religious Affairs, Basnang Said, highlighted the broader functions of pesantrens under Law Number 18 of 2019, which include education, dawah, and community empowerment.
“Previously, dawah and community empowerment received less attention because pesantrens were managed under the education-focused directorate. With a dedicated general directorate, the potential of pesantrens to drive community economic empowerment can be maximized,” Basnang said.
Dani Aswara contributed to the writing of this article.
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