By: Muhammad Zaki)*
The educational environment must always increase vigilance against the threat of the spread of radicalism and intolerance, because it will seriously threaten national integrity and stability.
Education is very important and crucial for all Indonesian people without exception, because it will be their provision in the future to welcome life in society. Therefore, the education sector is one of the most important and foremost guards to shape the character of the nation’s next generation.
Because of the very important position of education as forming the nation’s own character, the educational environment must also be really guarded so that it is not infiltrated by the notion of radicalism and intolerance which can then lead to acts of terrorism.
Imagine what would happen if the educators or the educational environment turned out to be full of hidden agendas from propagandists of radical teachings, then of course this is very detrimental because the character of the nation’s successors will be easily brainwashed by them.
For that, strictly speaking, the Vice President (Wapres) of the Republic of Indonesia, KH. Ma’ruf Amin stated that as the front line to shape character, the educational environment should continue to promote efforts to foster religious moderation because it will be able to prevent the spread of radical and intolerant ideas.
For the Vice President, the diversity of Indonesian people’s backgrounds, ranging from many religions and also many cultures, is indeed a potential or strong point of this nation, but on the other hand it also has the risk of being divided. Therefore, the entire community must continue to strive for religious moderation.
One of the efforts is to make the whole community aware of the importance of the attitude and spirit of religious moderation according to Vice President Ma’ruf through various movements of educators or the educational environment because they have a very important role and deal directly with the next generation.
Not only do they play an important role in spreading the spirit of religious moderation, but education personnel also play a very important role in providing the basis for the Pancasila ideology and also providing knowledge that is straight and pure as it is without being infiltrated by any interests.
However, with the advancement of technology and digital information in this era, it is a challenge for these educators. For this reason, the Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia advised them to be able to continue to adapt in facing all these challenges.
The dynamic development of the era that occurs so quickly must also be able to be overcome by educators. Chairman of the Central Board of the Indonesian Islamic Education Lecturers Association (ADPISI), Aam Abdussalam said that educators must be able to face all the challenges of changing times if they really want to succeed in the agenda of spreading values and the spirit of religious moderation.
Several concrete examples were given by him, namely the first is that educators must convey religious teachings contextually so that they are not left behind, besides that they must also continue to improve their quality including paying attention to how relevant the discussion is to be given so that the younger generation is also easier. accept it.
Furthermore, the point given by the Vice President Ma’ruf Amin is so that educators can build the character of independent learning for all their students so that there can be progress and development in the field of science, including religious studies. But of course all additional activities in the context of independent learning must remain within the framework of instilling the value of religious moderation in students.
Then he also added that it turns out that the hope of collaboration between educational institutions is no less important in the effort to spread the values of religious moderation. Educational institutions must be able to cooperate with other agencies that do have a uniform vision and mission, namely continuing to campaign for religious moderation within the framework of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI).
The Presidential Chief of Staff, Moeldoko also emphasized the same thing that educators must really be able to create an educational environment that is always alert to the threat of radicalism and intolerance. This statement was because previously there had been a survey release which stated that it turned out that students were very vulnerable to being exposed to radicalism and intolerance even to trigger acts of terrorism.
Therefore, Moeldoko explained that at least the educators must apply a series of appropriate strategies, one of which is to carry out learning and religious education in a more comprehensive manner. That religious education must be able to escape from the trappings of doctrine and also religious symbols which are very normative in nature. Even so, it must still accommodate the substance of religion itself but in a more universal perspective.
Vigilance regarding the threat of the spread of radicalism and intolerance from propagandists of radical groups must indeed continue to be raised, especially in the educational environment because it is the front line to be able to shape the character of the nation’s next generation.
)* The author is a contributor to the Press Circle and Cikini Students
