Researching the practice of inclusive education in Indonesian Pesantrens (Islamic Boarding Schools)

Abstract

Negative image has been posed around Indonesian pesantrens as it close to terrorism and radicalization. In fact, Pesantren has a very limited supports from the government but keep educating people, including people with disabilities, as part of their worship to God. This article investigates practices of pesantrens in providing access to Indonesian with disabilities. The article also explores religious values and ethics that promote inclusive education within pesantrens. This paper demonstrates that some elements of inclusive education have been implemented in Indonesian pesantrens. The pesantrens welcomed students with disabilities although with very less supports in term of facilities. Besides, many parents believed that pesantrens are the best place to develop well manner beside good knowledge and morality of their children, including children with disabilities. I start the paper with a discussion of the conceptual framework of Islamic education and pesantrens. I then discuss the research setting of two pesantrens and the methodology followed by the findings and a discussion to describe social interaction within Indonesian context.