Arief Subhan: Homeschooling Prone to Extremism

Jakarta, PPIM – “Homeschooling are vulnerable to transmission and exposure of radical religious values,” said Arief Subhan, a research coordinator on “Homeschooling” from the Center for the Study of Islam and Society (PPIM) of the Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University (UIN) Jakarta.

Arief was speaking in a virtual seminar entitled “Roles of Family in Religious Moderation” on Friday (22/1). The seminar was part of the 18^th virtual talk show series of #ModerasiBeragama (Religious Moderation) themed “Mass Organizations, Ulema and Religious Moderation” and organized by the PPIM UIN Jakarta through Convey Indonesia program.

Arief explained that based on his research, there were two types of homeschooling in Indonesia – faith-based homeschooling and non faith-based one. The Islamic-based homeschooling could be divided into inclusive Salafism and exclusive Salafism. 

He said that non faith-based and inclusive Salafism homeschooling tended to have strong resistance against extremism, because they usually encouraged their students to be involved in social activities that enabled them to mingle with people from various backgrounds.

Exclusive Salafism homeschooling, on the other hand, were vulnerable to extremism. “Students who go to exclusive Salafism homeschooling, particularly when it is a single one, are more vulnerable to be exposed to radical religious thinking because they practice self-exclusion,” Arief said, adding that such homeschooling also did not encourage the students to engage with wide community and accept diversity.

Therefore, Arief pointed out that it was important for all homeschooling to facilitate students to interact with groups of people from various backgrounds. That was a crucial step to take in order to foster tolerance values and resist extremism. 

This seminar was attended by Professor Jamhari Makruf, as the team leader of Convey Indonesia, and presented other speakers, such as Siti Nur Andini, a program manager of Our Family program, and filmmaker Noor Huda Ismail, the producer of “Seeking the Imam” documentary film.

Writer : Humairah
Editor: Fikri Fahrul Faiz