Prabowo Approves Directorate General of Islamic Boarding Schools, Deputy Head of DPR: Special Gift for National Santri Day

Jakarta – Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has approved the establishment of the Directorate General (Ditjen) of Islamic boarding schools within the Ministry of Religion (Kemenag). Deputy Chairman of the DPR RI, Cucun Ahmad Syamsurijal, welcomed Prabowo’s decision. “I truly appreciate the president’s steps as a commitment to santri and Islamic residences and as a very special gift on National Santri Day this year,” Cucun said in a written statement on Wednesday (10/22/2025). Cucun said this step is necessary to strengthen the position and facilitate the implementation of Law Number 18 regarding Islamic Residences of 2019. He assessed that the establishment of the Directorate General of Islamic Boarding Schools will have a great impact. “I am very optimistic that the president’s actions will have an increasingly powerful impact on the implementation of this law,” he said. PAGE TO CONTINUE CONTENT According to Cucun, the establishment of the Directorate General of Islamic Residences can also be linked to the president’s desire that the Ministry of Religion should really concentrate on improving the quality of the Ummah. As is known, Hajj and Umrah matters are now handled by a separate ministry. “When talking about improving the quality of the people, it cannot of course be separated from educational factors, and Islamic residences are an integral part of the national education system. From here, the Ministry of Religion will be able to optimize the function of Islamic residences as educational, preaching and community empowerment institutions,” he said. Quoted from the Ministry of Religion website, Deputy Minister of Religion (Wamenag) Father Muhammad Syafi’i conveyed the news that President Prabowo approved the establishment of the Directorate General of Islamic Boarding Schools. He called the birth of the Directorate General of Islamic Boarding Schools the most beautiful gift on Santri Day. Through an official letter numbered B-617/M/D-1/HK.03.00/10/2025 dated October 21, 2025, President Prabowo, through the Minister of State Secretary, gave the green light to immediately establish the Directorate General of Islamic Residences. The Deputy Minister of Religion explained that the main purpose of establishing this new directorate was to give much greater attention to Islamic residences. “Thank God, I have just received news from the Ministry of State Secretariat regarding the issuance of the approval of the initiative permit for the preparation of the draft presidential regulation (Perpres) regarding amendments to presidential regulation number 152 of 2024 regarding the Ministry of Religion,” said the Deputy Minister of Religion after the Santri Day C, Jakarta, on Wednesday. (22/10). (dwr/wnv)