While reform of Islamic education is necessary, secularisation is not

Suparto

Since the events of 11 September 2001, and more so since those of 12 October 2002, pesantren (boarding schools for the study of Islamic sciences) in Indonesia have come under intense scrutiny. On the whole, media coverage has been negative and based on limited understanding of the role and importance of pesantren. The focus of concerted research such as that carried out by the International Crisis Group (ICG) has been on only a few of the more than 13,000 pesantren that exist throughout Indonesia’s 26 provinces.
The results of this research have been used by the likes of Mike Keelty to generalise about pesantren more broadly, and call for their closure. Pesantren(are accused of breeding terrorists and jihadists (Islamic fighters). Some, such as Pondok Ngruki in Central Java, have been linked to the extremist movement Jama’ah Islamiyah (JI), which allegedly has links to Al-Qaeda.
It is argued that terrorists are cultivated in Indonesian pesantren where extremist variants of Islam are taught to indoctrinate students. Many Indonesian Muslim leaders such as Hasyim Muzadi, head of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Syafii Maarif, head of the modernist Muhammadiyah, and Azyumardi Azra, Rector of the State Islamic University in Jakarta, are becoming increasingly apprehensive about the consequences for Islamic education of this stereotyping. They nonetheless openly recognise and encourage on-going Islamic education reform.
Critics within and outside the Indonesian Muslim community argue that pesantren are not adequate as education institutions. Yahya Muhaimin, Minister for Education under former president Abdurrahman Wahid, argues that pesantren generally provide sub-standard education, are poorly resourced, and are largely incapable of producing the type of graduates capable of contributing to the much needed reform within Indonesia.

The need for reform

The word ‘pesantren’ stems from the root word ‘santri’. Santri are students who wish to gain a comprehensive understanding of Islamic religious matters by studying in pesantren and other religious education institutions. Pesantrenqhave existed in Indonesia for almost as long as Islam has been in the archipelago, or longer in Hindu variants.
Pesantren are established and managed by kyai (Islamic scholars and community leaders). The high status of kyai in Indonesian society rests upon a complex set of beliefs and values. Kyai are traditionally viewed as religious figures that embody in their advanced learning and modest and devout personal life styles the virtues, wisdom and power of Islam.
Pesantren are seen as one of great Islamic traditions in Indonesia. They have disseminated Islam to Indonesians for centuries, and are considered reservoirs of cultural values and norms, and public and private morality. Pesantren are not only distinctly Islamic, but they are also indigenous Indonesian institutions.
However, as Yahya Muhaimin argues, there has long been a need to reform many of the existing pesantren. Controversially, even some pesantren leaders send their children to state schools instead of sending them to pesantren, a fair indication of the lack of confidence in these schools. It goes without saying that education institutions will lose community support unless they are able to innovate and develop in a way that is perceived to fulfil community needs.
Cultural and social changes have occurred alongside Indonesia’s political and economic development and modernisation, all of which has influenced the education system. While pesantren cannot escape such evolution, they are heavily dependent upon their own willingness to reform.
To some extent, pesantren and other Islamic education institutions have wallowed in nostalgia for the glorious past. This has left them unable to grapple with the many problems facing the Indonesian ummat (community of believers) today. Indeed the greatest threat to indigenous education institutions comes from within them — if these institutions remain stubbornly resistant to modernisation, and remain nostalgic for their glorious historical achievements, undoubtedly, they will become increasingly marginalised and irrelevant to Indonesia’s mainstream.

An issue of relevance

Adopting change is not an easy task. Pesantren must maintain their original mission and character as religious-based education institutions, and at the same time they have to be able to grapple with the changing social climate. Over the years, pesantren have modernised their curricula to provide a mix of religious and non-religious subjects, such as the natural sciences.
To compliment the national education system, some pesantren have established modern education programs in the form of madrasah (graded style primary, junior and senior secondary schools). These Islamic schools follow nationally set curriculum in addition to providing several hours a week of religious education. In Indonesia, the government has accredited madrasah certificates equivalent to those of general schools so that madrasah graduates can access higher education. A possible dilemma of this accommodation is the inevitable influence and interference of the government, and the relative reduction in hours devoted to religious studies. This makes them less relevant as institutions that were established to provide religious education.
Pesantren such as Gontor, Tebuireng, Darun Najah, Darul Falah, and As-Salam are indicative of Islamic boarding schools that have undergone, and continue to undergo, reform. Tebuireng opened a grade-system madrasah in 1916. Three years later, Tebuireng included general or non-religious subjects in its curriculum.
Additionally, the education and social needs of women have been addressed by some pesantren, which have opened madrasah within the pesantren grounds that cater specifically for female santri. These include pesantren Putri Aniesah, Jember, which was established in 1981, and Pesantren Gontor Puteri Mantingan, Ngawi, which opened in 1991.

Imperialism and secularisation

Indigenous cultures have been destroyed and damaged by Western imperialism for centuries. This is no less true in Indonesia, which has been subject to political, economic, cultural, and other forms of Western imperialism. Direct colonisation has left a patchwork of unresolved conflicts within former colonial countries, and communities across the globe continue to struggle to overcome this legacy. They each, in their own way, seek solutions.
The latest wave of Western imperialism has come in the form of globalisation. Globalisation is widely seen as a project through which wealthy capitalist countries develop at the expense of poorer nations. Since its negative impacts are also cultural, social, and economic, globalisation can be seen as a stage of re-colonisation of peoples.
Globalisation has been pejoratively dubbed the creation of ‘McWorld’, shorthand for Western-oriented global monoculture. The Western world is largely secular in outlook and practice in that it allows private practice of religion but does not accept revealed truths as the basis for understanding and organising society. Religion has been left behind and marginalised in Western definitions of progress. Revelation has been replaced by rationalism as the source of all truth, and the God-centred view of the world has been replaced by an anthropomorphic view of a world where man creates ever changing and conflicting values and norms by which to live.

Reforming Islamic education

It is often stated by Western analysts such as Bernard Lewis and Samuel Huntington that Muslims view Western style cultural modernity as either a cultural threat that has to be opposed, or as a political challenge that has to be fought. This is a rather simplistic view of Muslim objections to Westernisation, and the debate on pesantren reform is indicative of this simplification.
Religion has always played a pivotal role in defining identity in Indonesia. Pesantren were established to foster and bolster the Islamic identity. They facilitate various Islamic currents and attitudes, transmitting Islamic knowledge, maintaining the Islamic traditions, and ensuring the production of the next generation of ulama (Islamic scholar-clerics). esantren act as protectors of what is important to the Islamic community, and as centres for the spread of the Islamic faith.
Pesantren in Java are also patrons of local culture. They nurture Islamic discourse specific to Java, and they preserve the Arabic Jawi tradition (Javanese or Malay language written in Arabic script). Institutions such as pesantren are developed to revive community religious values.
Although secular education institutions may seem more ubiquitous, pesantren still have wide appeal, and provide affordable eduction to tens of millions of Indonesians. Their successful adaptation to changes in communal behaviour and outlook stem at least in part from their philosophical commitment to: ‘maintaining the old values that are good and still relevant, and adopting the newer ones that are better’.
Islam is not necessarily anti-globalisation. Islam is indeed a universal religion. It is the secularist form of globalisation that is objectionable to most Muslims. Globalisation requires spiritual vision, not simply rational materialism. Dismantling the very spiritual basis of life is to neglect the deepest meaning of life for Muslims.
Islam provides a holistic approach to human society in which economic growth and material advancement are dubbed essential, but are framed by Islamic humanitarianism and an Islamic sense of social justice. Education is crucial in preparing young Indonesian to contribute constructively to a global future. This is no less true of Islamic forms of education, as evidenced in pesantren that have shown their capacity to move with the times without sacrificing their souls and foregoing their Islamic identity.
Suparto (Suparto71@hotmail.com) is a lecturer at the State Islamic University (UIN), Jakarta, and is a PhD Candidate with the Faculty of Education, at Monash University in Melbourne.

Inside Indonesia 77: Jan - Mar 2004

Pesantren

A type of school in Southeast Asia offering second-level training in Islamic subjects. The term is pesantren on Java, surau on Sumatra, pondok on the Malay Peninsula and Cambodia, and madrasah in the Philippines and Singapore. Pesantren derives from the sixteenth century, when learning centers were established, known as a place of learning for the Islamic faithful (santris). Surau was a place for worship in early Southeast Asia, while pondok derives from the travelers’ inns (Ar., funduq) of the Middle East. Madrasah is the generic name for such schools throughout the Islamic world.
Pesantren are private ventures by scholars called kyai on Java, guru on the Malay Peninsula and Brunei, ustadz in the Philippines, Cambodia, and Thailand, and ʿalim in most places—usually with the assistance of their families. Many schools do not survive the founder, but others continue several generations, with sons and sons-in-law succeeding to control and ownership. Prestige is gained by scholars with good contacts with other scholarly families, some in Arabia, and also through learners who establish new pesantren recognizing the original scholars as progenitors.
By the seventeenth century the pesantren on Java had become alternate centers of authority to the princely courts. The courts stressed elaborate lifestyles based on old Javanese values of refinement, while the pesantren stressed pious conduct and the hereafter. In Minangkabau the surau, likewise, was a center of authority outside the traditional communal units of society. In other places there seems to have been less social division between the court and the learning centers than in Java and Minangkabau.
In earlier times, the pesantren, surau, pondok and madrasah schools were a rural phenomenon, interacting with local communities. Scholars provided education, gave advice to villagers, and legitimized local ceremonies. Some scholars were regarded as “blessed” and consulted for cures and supernatural assistance during their lives and by cults at their tombs. Villagers supported such schools with food and assistance; in some places the poor tax, alms, and pious endowments were also given. In Malaysia support networks of parents provided assistance and, in all places, learners often worked in the agricultural fields of the school since fees were seldom taken for learning per se. Currently some pesantren are located in urban areas, and many rely on fees.
Students in earlier times remained at a pesantren until they felt they had learned enough and then returned to society. Committed students, often sons of scholars (gus), moved among schools whose scholars had reputations for special knowledge. A good number traveled to Mecca to study there under noted scholars as the culmination of their education. Today, students usually stay at a particular school for the full education, but sometimes additional training is obtained elsewhere in Southeast Asia, but more often in South Asia or in the Middle East, such as al-Azhar University in Egypt. See AL-AZHAR.
Learning was traditionally based on the “old books” (kitāb kuning) of prominent scholars from the Muslim Middle Period (ca. 1250–1850), usually from the Shāfiʿī school of legal scholarship. Study always included Arabic grammar (naḥw) and conjugation (ṣarf), Qurʿānic recitation (qirāʿah), Qurʿānic exegesis (tafsīr), theology (tawḥīd), jurisprudence (fiqh), ethics (akhlāq), logic (manṭiq), history (tārīkh) and mysticism (taṣawwūf). Malay and other local languages were used as the base language of the schools, making them accessible to the local population, which has always made the system popular. The weton or ḥalqah system was used, in which students sat in a semicircle before a seated scholar, who called on them in turn for recitation.
Historically, the intense education and worship schedule led to deep involvement of learners with their scholar, which produced strong loyalties and respect. In school and after departing, scholars could rely on their learners to answer a summons for aid, a factor of political importance at particular moments in history. In the Second Javanese War (1826–1830), the Acehnese War (1873–1903), and the Battle of Surabaya (1946) during the Indonesian Revolution, scholars led their santris into armed conflict against enemies they believed threatened the Muslim community.
In the twentieth century pesantren came under pressure from society and governments to adopt different teaching techniques and to include nonreligious subjects, and many responded favorably. In Indonesia the Modern Pesantren at Gontor, for example, expanded to include training from elementary grades to the university level with a mixed curriculum. Other pesantren converted to sekolah within the Indonesian education system. Still others offered specialized training in agriculture, crafts, and business alongside traditional religious subjects. In Singapore the government insisted on schools adopting much of the regular curriculum found in the national school system. In Brunei the schools were used to supplement the national school system.
In the early twenty-first century there were about 2,000 such schools in the Philippines, nearly 1,600 in Thailand, about 13,000 in Indonesia, 500 in Malaysia, several hundred in Cambodia, and only six in Singapore. Continuing attempts were made by governments throughout the Southeast Asian region to integrate these schools into standard government systems, with considerable success in this effort in Brunei, Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia, but with much less success in the Philippines, Thailand, and Cambodia.
In Thailand and the Philippines these schools have been used where national schools do not exist or where language difficulties make them a popular alternative to national schools. Charges have been made that some of those schools, operating outside of government control, have come under the influence of militant forms of Islamic teachings, most notably Wahhabism and al-Qaʿida, but the extent of such influence is difficult to measure.
While the value-oriented education of the pesantren remains respected by Southeast Asian Muslims, still this type of school appears to be fading in countries where a national education system is strong. When there is a choice, Muslims increasingly feel compelled to send their children to government schools with modern curricula, believing they will be better prepared for the job market. Even children of scholars, who earlier formed the cadre of young scholars and their wives, are drawn by nonreligious education, so that fewer qualified scholars are being trained.
See also EDUCATION, subentries onEDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS and RELIGIOUS EDUCATION; and MADRASAH.

Bibliography

Bibliography

• Azra, Asyumardi. Rise and Decline of the Minangkabau Surau: A Traditional Islamic Educational Institution in West Sumatra during the Dutch Colonial Period. Ciputat: Logos Wacana Ilmu dan Pemikira, 2003. The context of the surau in changing Minangkabau society.
• Bengsli, Bjorn. “Trends in the Islamic Community.”Phnom Penh Post, 12, 12 (June 6–19, 2003): 16. The place of religious education in the Islamic community of Cambodia.
• Dhofier, Zamarkhsyari. The Pesantren Tradition: The Role of the Kyai in the Maintenance of Traditional Islam in Java. Tempe: Monograph Series Press, Program for Southeast Asian Studies, Arizona State University, 1999. A basic description of life in a pesantren; for the general reader.
• Mucha-Shin, Quiling Arguiza, “Philippine Ethnic and Muslim Minorities: Educating Children the Traditional Way.”Mountain Research and Development26, no. 1 (February 2006): 24–27.

Origin of Corn Story   

Long ago, two braves were sitting by a fire, roasting a deer they had killed. Just then, a beautiful woman was seen to descend from the clouds and alight upon the earth. They were astonished at seeing her, and concluded that she must be hungry, and had smelt the meat. They immediately went to her, taking with them a piece of the roasted venison.

They presented it to her and she ate her fill. She told them to return to the spot where she was sitting, at the end of one year, and they would find a reward for their kindness and generosity. She then ascended to the clouds, and disappeared. The two men returned to their village, and explained to the nation what they had seen, done, and heard but were laughed at by their people.

When the time arrived for them to visit this consecrated ground where they were to find a reward for their attention to the beautiful woman of the clouds, they went with a large party, and found, where her right hand had rested on the ground, corn growing -and where the left hand had rested, beans - and immediately where she had been seated, tobacco. The two first have, ever since, been cultivated by our people, as our principal provisions and the last used for smoking.

Why Crow Is Black Story 

In days long past, when the earth and the people on it were still young, all crows were white as snow. In those ancient times, the people had neither horses nor firearms nor weapons of iron. Yet they depended upon the buffalo hunt to give them enough food to survive. Hunting the big buffalo on foot with stone-tipped weapons was hard, uncertain, and dangerous. The crows made things even more difficult for the hunters, because they were friends of the buffalo. Soaring high above the prairie, they could see everything that was going on. Whenever they spied hunters approaching a buffalo herd, they flew to their friends and, perching between their horns, warned them: "Caw, caw, caw, cousins, hunters are coming. They are creeping up through that gully over there. They are coming up behind that hill. Watch out! Caw, caw, caw!" Hearing this, the buffalo would stampede, and the people starved.

The people held a council to decide what to do. Now, among the crows was a huge one, twice as big as all the others. This crow was their leader. One wise old chief got up and made this suggestion: "We must capture the big white crow," he said, "and teach him a lesson. It's either that or go hungry."

He brought out a large buffalo skin, with the head and horns still attached. He put it on the back of a young brave, saying: "Nephew, sneak among the buffalo. They will think you are one of them, and you can capture the big white crow. "Disguised as a buffalo, the young man crept among the herd as if he were grazing. The big, shaggy beasts paid him no attention. Then the hunters marched out from their camp after him, their bows at the ready. As they approached the herd, the crows came flying, as usual, warning the buffalo: "Caw, caw caw, cousins, the hunters are coming to kill you. Watch out for their arrows. Caw, caw, caw!" and as usual, all the buffalo stampeded off and away:all, that is, except the young hunter in disguise under his shaggy skin, who pretended to go on grazing as before.

Then the big white crow came gliding down, perched on the hunter's shoulders, and flapping his wings, said: "Caw, caw, caw, brother, are you deaf? The hunters are close by, just over the hill. Save yourself!" But the young brave reached out from under the buffalo skin and grabbed the crow by his legs. With a rawhide string he tied the big bird's feet and fastened the other end to a stone. No matter how the crow struggled, he could not escape.

Again the people sat in a council. "What shall we do with the big, bad crow, who has made us go hungry again and again?" "I'll burn him up!" answered one angry hunter, and before anybody could stop him, he yanked the crow from the hands of his captor and thrust it into the council fire ring, string, stone and all. "This will teach you," he said. Of course, the string that held the stone burned through almost at once, and the big crow managed to fly out of the fire. But he was badly singed, and some of his feathers were charred. Though he was still big, he was no longer white. "Caw, caw, caw," he cried, flying away as quickly as he could, "I'll never do it again. "I'll stop warning the buffalo, and so will all the Crow nation. I promise! Caw, caw, caw." Thus the crow escaped. But ever since, all crows have been black.

Technology changing your Kid's Education

My nephew -- age nine -- sent me an animated 3-D model of a character that he rigged himself, doing a walk cycle no less. This all happened while my other nephews were sitting around discussing the iPhone app they wanted to make.
I was amazed and it gave me pause for thought, immediately conjuring up visuals of them taking over the matrix and me living in a box begging for food. Then reality chimed in, and I told them to go outside and play in the fresh air with rocks and dirt, doing things kids of their age should be doing.
Welcome to 2012...
Shifting gears for a second, let's consider the phone booth. If I were to ask the same kids what a phone booth was, I would safely bet that they'd have no idea what I was talking about. Now think about that for a second: something like a phone booth -- pictured in so many movies, in every mall, and on most big street corners is completely irrelevant in today's world. It's going the way of the dinosaurs, becoming a piece of technological history. Fifteen years ago, very important; today, a gigantic paperweight. Our youth carry their own phones, have their own connections to the digital world and are making paper and text books obsolete with technology like iPads -- all of this while some are still pooping their pants. This brings a whole new meaning to the industry term "early adopters."
OK, so what the hell does this have to do with education? Well my friends, take a look at modern day courses. Typically they still look and work like proverbial telephone booth, so to speak. Institutions designed courses for an audience of attendees and people ate what they were fed and did as they were told or they went hungry. Institutions made the rules, just like the phone booths -- designed for and ruled by those antiquated institutions known as phone companies. That was, until the digital age came along and suddenly people had choices. People wanted more. Those people are us -- and they are our children and they are the generations of the present and the future. Status quo is over and out.
What does that mean for all us creative types and tech heads? It means there is a big opportunity -- to empower, to evolve and to establish a new way for our youth to learn.
In the past the people making courses and developing content typically focused on the gate keepers which were the teachers and professors because they decided which product their students would use. Now, the focus is shifting towards the student and the recognition that their needs are now just as important as the educator to those content creators. This changes everything. Audience focus has shifted from our middle aged men and women who lived in hard cover books to a new generation who reads and interacts with their tablet, TV, cell phone or computer -- jumping back and forth at their convenience.
What this means for people working in a digital industry is that education is undergoing a huge paradigm shift, not just a facelift. Kids choose the experiences they enjoy. They seek knowledge and education in subject areas they choose -- and that's only the start. Parents are supporting and using technology in helping their kids to find remedial assistance -- one on one, one to many, and many to one. There are new conversations emerging -- conversations that with the institutions and their teachers and teacher's helpers and administrators, much of this through social media.
Even the concept of the expert is changing, people are deciding who they want to learn from. The community decides who the experts are, based upon their experiences and interactions and feedback. Amazing designers, coders, writers, film makers, business coaches, doctors, lawyers etc. are authoring and producing their own content and inviting people to learn from them and it is being recognized by progressive institutions, professional societies and employers alike.
There are a lot of smart people already looking at shifting the model, and they are making waves in the education space. Recently Time magazine released its top 50 websites for 2012. It showcased four companies who offered a new outlook on education. None were major players in the education space, they were small companies focused on new concepts like open learning, digital mentoring, social learning, gaming and learning and community experts and so on. Two things they all had in common, they focused on community and put the student at the centre of the experience.
Further, companies -- big and small are going to be looking for new ways to validate candidates with additional assessments outside of the traditional tests. What you know will become less important than how you can translate and apply that knowledge into something useful for the prospective employer.
That is right, being tested by your potential employer is becoming more and more common. Code with us for a day for example, or do this code test in my industry are things that just didn't happen 10 years ago. Google, Twitter, Apple, Facebook they are all doing it. It's only a matter of time before this becomes a more standardized process and people are expected to show what they can do before they are even invited to fill a seat.
It does makes sense when you think about it, the most common thing you hear from kids starting their first job right out of school is that they didn't know anything until they started in the work force. What that also means though is that kids out of school may be able to compete for positions they would never have been considered for because the playing field is set by the test the employers are using. Competition is much more fierce then it was when we were kids and standardized testing doesn't account for common sense, working in a group, attitude, temperament and or dedication, which are all part of creating good culture in the work place.
These are all things on the table right now. Let's move ahead a few years, imagine your potential employer telling you that to master a course you need to score 80 per cent from this expert they want you to emulate (and demonstrate your proficiency) before being considered for a position, then you would come in for a formal test day with the team applying those concepts in a meaningful way.
Now take a look at the accessibility of mobile phones which are reaching 80 per cent of the world's population. You are seeing people in remote places with touch screens and phones using generators and solar power to recharge them. The delivery method for educational content has changed and is more cost effective then ever to reach people who never would have had the opportunity to learn certain subject matter before. Less money per course, more people learning the material. Imagine if a tribesman from Nigeria could take law and pass the bar exam in New York for example. These scenarios, as far fetched as they sound, are coming -- there's no mistake about it.
More and more, the people and institutions and corporations who deliver education are understanding that students are demanding to be at the centre of the user and educational experience. They choose the kind of media they want to absorb and how they want to absorb it.
Back to my nine-year-old nephew, where it all started, and the animated 3-D model of a character that he rigged himself, doing a walk cycle no less. He chose the subject area he was interested in, found the material and education he needed. Then he started playing and building and applying his knowledge in a way that he found useful. He built the animated 3-D model of a character for himself, not for me. This is the changing face of education, with the student at the centre of the experience, choosing the content they want and who and how they want to learn it.
Strap yourself in, and hang onto your seat. It's going to be an awesome ride.

Aeromodelling Sako Ma'arif NU Jawa Timur

Pelatihan Aeromodelling

Sebanyak dua puluh enam anggota pramuka penegak dari berbagai cabang satuan komunitas Pramuka Ma’arif NU di Jawa Timur menjalani pelatihan kedirgantaraan dalam pembuatan pesawat aeromodeling tingkat dasar. Kursus akan dilaksanakan selama sehari dan merupakan program Satuan Komunitas Pramuka Ma’arif NU Jawa Timur Tahun 2014, Minggu 18/03/14.

Pelaksanaan Pelatihan aeromodelling di kemas sebagaimana pelaksanaan kegiatan kepramukaan ala pramuka ahlussunnah wal jama’ah yang dipandu pembawa acara oleh Kak Wiwik Endahwati, yaitu dibuka dengan pembacaan alfatihah dilanjutkan pembacaan ayat suci al quran, menyanyikan lagu Indonesia raya, sambutan ketua panitia sekaligus ketua Satuan Komunitas Pramuka Ma’arif NU Jawa Timur oleh Kak Muchit Syarief, sambutan dari FASI Jawa Timur dan sambutan dilanjutkan pembukaan pelatihan aeromodelling oleh ketua Mabin Satuan Komunitas Pramuka Ma’arif NU Jawa Timur oleh Kak Prof. Dr. Abdul Haris, M. Ag., menyanyikan hymne pramuka oleh Pembina Sako Pramuka Ma’arif NU Lamongan dan Mars Ma’arif NU oleh anggota sako Pramuka Ma’arif NU Jombang, ditutup dengan do’a oleh Kak Khoirul Anam.

Dalam sambutan pembukaan, Kak Abdul Haris menyampaikan beberapa hal sebagai berikut;

1.        Menyampaikan terima kasih kepada semua pihak yang membantu terselenggarakannya pelatihan aeromodelling ini, terutama kepada ketua Sako Ma’arif NU Jawa Timur yang melaksanakan program pelatihan aeromodelling ini, semoga menjadi titik awal kebangkitan anggota pramuka Ma’arif NU Jatim untuk mencintai kedirgantaraan.

2.        Dengan pelatihan aeromodelling ini saya berharap adik-adik anggota pramuka Ma’arif NU Jatim ikut berperan serta dalam pengembangan pesawat di Indonesia baik, pesawat komersial untuk kepentingan transportasi maupun pesawat tempur yang bisa untuk memperkokoh pertahanan kedaulatan Negara kesatuan Republik Indonesia.

3.        Kami sungguh berharap kepada anggota Satuan Komunitas Pramuka Ma’arif NU, khususnya anggota Satuan Komunitas Pramuka Ma’arif NU di Jawa Timur dengan serius mengikuti pelatihan ini, agar nantinya adik-adik mampu berperan dalam pembuatan pesawat di tanah air ini, karena akan sangat berbeda sekali ketika melihat desaign pesawat yang dibuat oleh teknisi lulusan Ma’arif NU dengan selain Ma’arif NU. Pesawat hasil desaign lulusan Ma’arif NU, kabin pesawat dipenuhi dengan tulisan asmaul husna melingkari ruangan, ruang pesawat dipenuhi dengan ayat-ayat al quran, control kendali pesawat bertuliskan lafadh  Allah-Muhammad, selalu diiringi lantunan bacaan ayat-ayat alquran setiap waktu, sehingga membuat para penumpang merasa nyaman dan terjamin akan keselamatan penerbangannya. Disamping itu membuat banyak orang yang asalnya takut naik pesawat menjadi berani naik pesawat karena ketiaka naik pesawat serasa masuk masjid Nahdlatul Ulama.

4.        Yang terakhir, kegiatan ini merupakan pengejawantahan dari sebuah maqolah; ajarilah anak-anakmu sesuatu yang bermanfaat untuk kehidupan masa depannya, karena hidup mereka berbeda dengan jaman kamu hidup sekarang ini. Dengan demikian satuan komunitas Pramuka Ma’arif NU harus mampu memberikan pelatihan-pelatihan yang bermanfaat bagi kehidupan generasi yang akan datang. Kegiatan pelatihan aeromodelling ini merupakan titik awal kebangkitan anggota Satuan Komunitas Pramuka Ma’arif NU Jawa Timur selanjutnya harus terus dikembangkan pelatihan-pelatihan berikutnya yang bermanfaat.

Selanjutnya, Sambutan dari FASI yang disampaikan oleh Kak Mis ;” Dalam melaksanakan pembinaan seluruh potensi dirgantara di wilayah Lanud Juanda, termasuk pembinaan minat olahraga kedirgantaraan bagi generasi muda, salah satunya pengenalan pembuatan pesawat aero modelling. Hal disampaikan oleh Kak Mis dari FASI Jawa Timur.

Pelatihan pembuatan pesawat aero modelling merupakan wujud upaya pemberdayaan wilayah pertahanan udara yang melibatkan masyarakat di Lanud Juanda Surabaya dan melalui pelatihan tersebut diharapkan minat kedirgantaraan masyarakat khususnya anggota satuan pramuka Ma’arif NU Jawa Timur tumbuh, berkembang dan akhirnya dapat aktif dalam kegiatan kedirgantaraan, katanya.

Masih menurut Kak Mis, dengan banyaknya masyarakat yang mengenal kedirgantaraan maka potensinya akan berkembang, sehingga dapat menjadi komponen cadangan TNI  dan atlit olahraga dirgantara.

Pelatihan pembuatan pesawat aero modelling  di Pusdiklat PW LP. Ma’arif NU Jawa Timur melibatkan banyak pihak, antara lain, instruktur dari FASI Jawa Timur, SMK Penerbangan Sedati Sidoarjo, anggota satuan pramuka Ma’arif NU Jawa Timur meliputi satuan pramuka Ma’arif NU cabang Jombang, Lamongan, Mojokerto dan Surabaya.

Materinya meliputi tiga materi utama yaitu teori aero modelling, praktek pembuatan pesawat model dan praktek menerbangkan pesawat Glider. 

Di harapkan dari pelatihan tersebut muncul bibit-bibit olahragawan muda di bidang aeromodeling dan menumbuhkan semangat baru bagi anggota satuan komunitas pramuka Ma'arif NU.