Madrasah Position as National Education System
Autonomy given to the Ministry of Religion to manage madrassas marks the government's goodwill to try to integrate madrassas into the national education system, but the effort that began in the 1970s to 1980s, is apparently not simple, because education is still constitutionally still governed by Law No. 4 of 1950 jo No. 12 of 1954 who ignored madrasa education.
This phenomenon gave rise to the strong reaction of the Muslims which was immediately realized by the New Order government, relating to Presidential Decree 34/1972 and Presidential Instruction 15/1974, the government then adopted a more operational policy in relation to madrasas, namely to foster the quality of madrasa education. In line with this effort to improve the quality of madrasa education on March 24, 1975, a policy was issued in the form of a Joint Decree (SKB) of three ministers signed by the Minister of Religion, the Minister of Education and Culture, and the Minister of Home Affairs. The birth of the three ministerial decree to address the concerns and worries of Muslims will abolish the madrasa education system as a consequence of the Presidential Decree and the Presidential Instruction above. The decree is seen as being able to provide recognition of the existence of madrasas, as well as providing certainty for the continuation of the formation of an integrated national education system.
The integration of madrasas into the national education system found momentum in the late 1980s, when the government passed Law no. 2/1989 concerning the national education system. This law includes provisions on all types and lines of education. If in the previous Act national education rests on public schools, on UUSPN national education includes school and outside school channels, as well as types of academic education, professional education, vocational education, and religious education which explicitly do not specifically regulate Islamic education, but in practice this Law also provides new provisions regarding the types and curriculum of Islamic education, especially madrassas. The important implication of UUSPN on madrasa education can be observed in the curriculum and all madrasah levels (MI / MTs / MA) are the same as public schools (SD / SLTP / SMU), but the madrasa curriculum has advantages in religious matters.
Operationally, the integration of madrasas into the national education system is strengthened by Decree of the Minister of Religion No. 368 and 369 of 1993 concerning the implementation of MI and MTs. Meanwhile, Madrasah Aliyah (MA) was strengthened by PP No. 29 of 1990, Minister of Education and Culture Decree No. 0489 / U / 1992 namely MA as a high school characterized by the Islamic religion. This recognition resulted in no more differences between SD / SLTP / SMU and MI / MTs / MA which have advantages in the religious field.
Thus the integration of madrasas into the national education system is not an integration in the sense of the administration and management of education, including madrassas to get a stronger recognition by the Ministry of National Education, that even though the management of madrasas is delegated to the Ministry of Religion, it still refers to the objectives, basis and curriculum of education as stipulated in Nationally, the Ministry of Religion has the authority to pattern education models and processes in all types and units of religious education creatively.