5 Things about Pesantren culture in Madura

Pesantren is a traditional education in Indonesia, where the students live together and learn under the guidance of a teacher or known as Kiai. There is a boarding house for the santri to stay in which is inside a complex, there is also a mosque, room for studying and other religious activities. Pesantren is a common thing in many region of Indonesia, especially in Madura which has around 200 pesantren. Let see 5 things about Pesantren culture in Madura.

1. History

The origin of Pesantren in Madura was started by langgar education. Langgar is a building built from wood and bamboo, by the owner this buliding is used to teach children in the area to recite. Langgar that is not used to teach usually called kobhung, Madura people who have the land to build it certainly has kobhung. Until today, there is a lot of kobhung in the Madura society.  As time flies, many langgar turns into pesantren but even if there are many langgar that turns into pesantren, new langgar still keeps popping up. There are still many langgar that stay at it is or turned into small pesantren.   

2. Santri

Santri is the term for students who study in pesantren. As mentioned before, usually santri lives in a boarding house that has been provided by the pesantren. In living life in pesantren, they usually take care of their daily needs and they have the same facilities between each other. Santri is required to obey the rules that has been set in pesantren and if they disobey it they will get sanction according to the violation that they have done. 

3. Kiai

Kiai is a respected figure by the Madurese. Kiai is the leader of pesantren or in formal school known as Headteacher. Kiai is from the Javanese language, which means the great, sacred and elder. A broadest meaning for Kiai in Indonesia is for the founders and leader pesanren, as a respectable muslim that dedicate their life for Allah SWT also spreading and deepening the teaching and Islamic view through education. The Madurese obidient to the Kiai leads them to make a jargon that as evil as the Madurese, they will remain obedient and will not dare to oppose their teacher and Kiai.

4. Habit

Madurese people are strong believers of Islam, even the Madurese that lives in Madura can be said 100% Muslim.  They are popular for their devotion to Islam, just like Melayu and Bugis they uphold the religion of Islam in their daily life. This makes many parents in Madura put their children in pesantren from a very young age. They believe that religious science is more important than science itself, so it is a habit for parents there to put their children in pesantren. In a few pesantren sometimes there is only a small amount of santri that attend it, often they enter the pesantren because their parents are the alumni in other words is forced by their parents. Pesantren is rooted in the Madura society because it doesn’t only teach religious science but also has gait in society social life and care about the fate of the little people. 

5. Popular Pesantren

The last on 5 things about pesantren culture in Madura is the popular pesantren. For a long time Madura is known to have pesantren based Islamic educational institute. There is a few reputable Pesantren in Madura, which are :

• Pondok Pesantren Al-Amien Prenduen Sumenep, this is one of the biggest pesantren in Madura island. The daily communication between students and teachers is using English and Arabic. This pesantren is located in Desa Prenduen, Kecamatan Pragaan, Kabupaten Sumenep.
• Pondok Pesantren Darul Ulum Banyuanyar Pamekasan, a lot of people around Madura and in Madura have intrest in this pesantren since it has a complete facilities. This pesantren is located in Desa Potoan, Kecamatan Palengaan, Kabupaten Pamekasan.
• Pondok Pesantren Mambaul Ulum Bata-Bata Pamekasan, back then at this pesantren only learn about recitation of Kitab Kuning and not yet formed as a formal school. But then this pesantren developed quickly and it was the first formal school that was established which is Madrasah Ibtidaiyah (MI). It is located in Desa Panaan, Kecamatan Palengaan, Kabupaten Pamekasan, Jawa Timur. 
• Pondok Pesantren Syaichona Kholil Bangkalan, this pesantren was established before the independence of Indonesia. Beside spreading Islamic teachings, it was also for fighting the invader at that time. This pesantren is located in Desa Demangan, Kecamatan Bangkalan, Kabupaten Bangkalan.
• Pondok Pesantren Annuqayah Guluk-Guluk Sumenep, the location of this pesantren is in the middle of a rural area so it is the best location for those who wants to learn as well as avoiding the city chaos. The intresting activity in this pesantren is that each santri must write a resume of what they have learned, the goal is for the students to be more skilled in the writing world. This pesantren is located in Desa Guluk-Guluk, Kecamatan Guluk-Guluk, Kabupaten Sumenep Madura. 
• Pondok Pesantren Sumber Mas, even tough their santri only in the number of hundreds but this pesantren already has a business to empower the alumni and society around the pesantren with a savings and loan program that is sponsored by BMT Sumber Mas, fostering of cattle, goat, chicken farmer, rental business and others. 

Those are the 4 things about Pesantren culture in Madura. The development of education in Indonesia kept growing so that pesantren nowadays is formed as a formal education institute by the laws of the government. There is no more santri that is fully learning about the book and help the Kiai to farm or other activity. So that the students are focused to be students and santri.