PPIM Survey: 57 Percent of Teachers Have an Intolerant View

BENARNEWS.ORG – The Center for the Study of Islam and Society, State Islamic University (PPIM UIN) Syarif Hidayatullah reported that 57 percent of teachers have an intolerant view of followers of other religions, and 37.77 percent wish to commit intolerant acts.

Director of PPIM UIN Jakarta, Saiful Umam said the survey was conducted on 2,237 Muslim teachers ranging from kindergarten to high school in 34 provinces whose areas were randomly selected based on probability proportional to size techniques.

The objective of the survey, which was conducted from 6 August to 6 September, was due to the increasing trend of intolerance in society. The survey has a margin of error (MoE) of 2.7 percent, with a confidence level of 95 percent.

“That number is huge. Religion should provide peace, often in many cases, religion is used to justify acts of violence and intolerance, ”he told BenarNews in Jakarta, Wednesday, October 17, 2018.

Questions asked include “do non-Muslims have the right to elect an office, should the head of the service be Muslim, and the establishment of houses of worship of other religions in their neighborhood”.

As a result, he said, 55 percent rejected the establishment of houses of worship of other religions in their neighborhoods, 30 percent did not agree that there were other religious ceremonies in their neighborhood and 73 percent supported government leaders to be Muslim.

Besides, 33 percent of teachers agreed to encourage others to fight for an Islamic state and 29 percent of teachers agreed to join the jihad in the Southern Philippines, Syria, or Iraq in fighting for the establishment of an Islamic state.

In the survey, as many as 40.36 percent of teachers agreed that all knowledge is already in the Koran so that Muslims do not need to learn science that comes from the West. 82.77 percent of teachers agree that Islam is the only solution to all societal problems.

“They see Islam as everything, this absolute understanding has caused teachers to have an intolerant view,” said Saiful.

Low quality

Education experts from Eduspec Indonesia, Indra Charismiadji said that the results reinforce other studies that the quality of Indonesian education is still low in the world due to the low quality of teachers.

“The highest result of education is tolerance. So if there are intolerant teachers, it means that they are not a product of education, they are not the place to educate them, ”he said, quoting Hellen Keller.

According to him, the results of the survey should have been taken seriously by the government to filter the performance of teachers as educators.

“For example, teachers are screened for what is suitable to be placed in school, what about the value of tolerance, everything must be tested, there must be liaison teaching,” he said.

“In the past, people didn’t want to be teachers because of the small salary, now the salary is big so many want to be teachers without being matched by the skills of a teacher.”

He gave an example, Indonesian people are currently easily fooled and pitted against the rampant hoax news.

Chairman of the Executive Board (PB) of the Indonesian Teachers Association (PGRI), Unifah Rosyidi, said the survey results should be taken into account to get the government’s attention if the issue of intolerance in schools exists.

“School should be a neutral zone that fosters values ​​and unites the nation. A teacher must be a source of value for students, where the personality of the teacher and students is formed. Matters related to racism, intolerance, hoaxes, issues of race and religion should not be in schools, “he added.

He added that teacher recruitment from the start must be emphasized on sanctions if someone is intolerant because it will affect student growth and development in school.

“For example, by reconstructing the education curriculum for teacher readiness in teaching,” said Unifah.

However, he appealed to the public not to generalize teachers as a source of intolerance because they are not completely teachers like that.

“The research must be checked and checked whether it is true or not, who is the teacher where, at what level, general or religious needs to be clear so that it does not become a generalization,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Director-General of Islamic Education at the Ministry of Religion, Kamaruddin Amin, assessed that the survey results cannot be said to directly claim that teachers are intolerant.

“It’s not that they are intolerant, it’s not that simple to classify them. The questionnaire questions must be broader, “he said.

He admitted that his party had made many efforts to establish moderate religious understanding.

“The training for religious education teachers includes material on religious moderation, we are doing it massively and systematically. It has become the main menu in teacher training, “he said.

Besides, Kamaruddin added, the madrasah curriculum has also included moderate Islamic values ​​and is carried out with various programs, including supervision of teachers.

“If there are teachers who are proven to be intolerant, they can be reported and we will foster them,” he concluded.

He added that the PPIM survey results cannot directly claim that teachers are intolerant because the same thing might happen when the question is asked of non-Muslims.

Another survey institute, the Indonesian Survey Circle, last September released a survey conducted a month earlier of 1,520 respondents who were also voters in the 2019 elections.

The survey found that Muslim intolerance to non-Muslims tended to be high, with the majority of Muslims objecting to non-Muslims becoming heads of government. On the other hand, the majority of non-Muslims do not mind if Muslims become government leaders.

Based on the survey, a majority of 59% of Muslims objected to non-Muslims becoming president, and 55% of Muslims objected to non-Muslims becoming vice presidents. In contrast, the majority of non-Muslims do not mind if a Muslim becomes president or vice president (86%).