Founded in 2004 by the Tarbiyah Faculty then acquired by the State Islamic University of Sunan Kalijaga in 2011, the Center for Developing Islamic Education (CDIE) aims at developing qualified Islamic education in Indonesia. It initially arises from cumulative concern over declining educational standards of Islamic education ranging from elementary to higher levels, namely, madrasah and jami'ah, respectively.
Unlike its non-religious counterpart, the Islamic education hardly meets the national education standards. Yet, it accommodates a majority of Indonesian students. Demographically, it has some 50,000 institutions, in which 91 percent is run by non-governmental institution, spreads out across 33 provinces and 497 regencies and targets low economics in which group the majority of Indonesians can undoubtedly be observed.
If the institution is not well established while the majority of the Indeonesian students are enrolled into it, most Indonesian human resources will in turn be poor not only on the issue of education but also of other aspects of life such as health, economy, politics, democracy, culture and so forth. Therefore, developing Islamic education that provides students with skill and knowledge required to participate in the globalizing economy that later enables them to reduce poverty and inequality, improve health and well-being and lay the basis for economic growth is a must.
In short, developing qualified Islamic education is a key to the future of Indonesia in the context of global world.
