"We hope that with the presence of this assistance, madrasahs in Indonesia can continue to develop and provide quality religious education,"Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Ministry of Religious Affairs disbursed Rp811 billion (around US$52.29 million) in aid for 5,693 madrasahs (Islamic schools) at all levels in 2023.
Director General of Islamic Education at the ministry, M. Ali Ramdhani, said that of the 5,693 madrasahs, 4,849 are beneficiaries of the Affirmation Assistance program and 844 are beneficiaries of the Performance Assistance program.
"Providing madrasahs performance assistance and affirmation assistance aims to encourage improvements in the quality of the madrasahs and reduce or narrow the quality gap between madrasahs," he explained here on Tuesday.
According to him, the assistance programs are a form of his ministry's commitment to improve the quality of religious education nationwide and support its development.
"We hope that with the presence of this assistance, madrasahs in Indonesia can continue to develop and provide quality religious education," he remarked.
According to the ministry's Director of Curriculum, Facilities, Institutions, and Student Affairs, Muhammad Sidik Sisdiyanto, the performance assistance is aimed at rewarding madrasahs for creating a positive climate for their quality improvement.
Meanwhile, the affirmation assistance is aimed at supporting madrasahs that are in need of improving their quality.
He further explained that under the Affirmation Assistance program, each madrasah receives Rp150 million (around US$9.664). Meanwhile, under the Performance Assistance program, each madrasah gets Rp100 million (around US$6.443).
Chair of the project management unit of the Realizing Education's Promise-Madrasah Education Quality Reform (REP-MEQR) program, Abdul Rouf, said that the two assistance programs are part of the REP-MEQR, or Madrasah Reform program.
The program beneficiaries are selected through the EDM and eRKAM platforms, which are platforms for madrasahs' electronic-based planning and budgeting. This is to ensure that the selections are transparent and based on an evaluation of the madrasahs' performance.
"This is part of transparency so that the accountability of assistance reporting can be guaranteed," Rouf said.
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Translator: Asep Firmansyah, Raka Adji
Editor: Arie Novarina
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