ARTICLE

Raising religious inherency: the role ofinterreligious competence in achieving religiouseducation equality in multireligious public schoolsin IndonesiaPratiwi Tri Utami 1✉

This case study examines the challenges in providing religious education (RE) for all religions

in Indonesia in a variety of diverse settings. These challenges in RE equality include inter-

religious competence, especially the tendency for tolerance, as expressed from the per-

spectives of multireligious teachers and students in public schools. This study uses

purposeful random sampling to examine elementary and junior high schools and reveal

barriers to providing RE for all religions, especially in rural areas. A number of barriers,

including the minimum number of students, lack of human resources, limited school budget,

and area conditions, contribute to the lack of awareness in providing enough religious subject

teachers for all religious students. These challenges influence the tendency for tolerance in RE

inequality. The decision of Muslim and non-Muslim teachers and students to accept and

respect these conditions is meant to create a peaceful school environment and to be con-

ducive to learning. This acceptance and respect represent a tolerant attitude towards

maintaining the coexistence of a multireligious society in the school context. This study

suggests that interreligious competence in a multireligious society increases religious

inherency.

https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01298-y OPEN

1 Graduate school of Humanities and Social Science, Hiroshima University, 1-5-1 Kagamiyama, Higashihiroshima, Hiroshima 739-8529, Japan.✉email: Pratiwitriutami1@gmail.com

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Introduction

This article focuses on the challenges of education equalityin providing religious education for all religions (REFAL),especially in multireligious public schools in Indonesia. It

aims to depict the meaning of tolerance as interreligious com-petence in a multireligious society to increase religious inherency.Moreover, it examines the tendency of tolerance to achieveREFAL in Indonesia by involving multireligious teachers andstudents as the target participants. Multireligious teachers andstudents are defined as the school members who belong to dif-ferent religions in the target school. Furthermore, Indonesia isidentified as the country with the largest Muslim population inthe world (Juergensmeyer, 2009). The Muslim populationrepresents 87.67% of the total population compared to the fiveother legal religions, Christianity, Catholicism, Hinduism, Bud-dhism, and Confucianism (Akhsan and Syaputa, 2011). Indonesiais not a Muslim country, but neither is it a country of any otherparticular religion (Asrori, 2016). Legal religions are chosen basedon the development history of religion in Indonesia, whereChristianity and Catholicism are differentiated. In Indonesia,“Christianity” refers to Protestant Christianity, whereas “Cath-olicism” refers to Catholic Christianity (Ministry of ReligiousAffairs, 2010). All religions are protected based on Indonesianideology.

The position of religious education itself is influenced by acountry’s ideology, such as Indonesia, which is a unique case interms of religious education in that it is neither a secular norreligious country (Davis and Miroshnikova, 2013; Nuryatno,2014). In Indonesia, RE is part of the school curriculum and isimplemented in public and private schools. RE content is adaptedand provided based on the legal religions. Directing RE mayinvolve tensions (such as equality) that affect cultural and per-sonal development, especially in secular countries (Cush, 2014).In other words, whether RE is involved as a subject or a valuemust be considered. In Indonesia, religious subjects are com-pulsory at the elementary and secondary education levels. Mul-tireligious education was implemented in the school system toaddress RE equality, as stated in the Indonesia Constitution no.20/2003, the Act of Republic of Indonesia on National Educa-tional System. It declares that ‘each student has a right to religiouseducation based on their religion and to be taught by a teacherwho has the same religion’ (Government of Republic ofIndonesia, 2003). It is a way to reduce the tension among reli-gions and ensure equal religious education. In the current edu-cational curriculum of Indonesia, religious education andcharacter education are integrated to shape the students’ char-acter and develop their national attachment and identity based ontheir beliefs (Republic of Indonesia, 2007). Thus, the function ofRE is to produce the appropriate character to maintain peace andinterreligious relationships in society.

To examine the challenges involved in providing REFAL, thisarticle investigates the most diverse area of Indonesia, Yogya-karta, and the least diverse area, Bangka Island. These locationswere selected based on considerations of religious history, reli-gious population diversity, and cultural diversity to examine thechallenges to equality of RE in different contexts. It is interestingto explore how RE is delivered equally for every religion andtaught by teachers belonging to the appropriate religions in publicschools, where each school may include students of more thanone religion. Thus, this research points out three main questions:(1) In a multireligious public school, is RE provided to all mul-tireligious students? (2) Through the strategy of the RE deliverysystem, a) as a multireligious rural area, does Bangka Island meetthe requirements of the equal delivery of RE for multireligiousstudents in public schools? B) As the most diverse area, isYogyakarta a good model of equally delivering religious education

to all religious students for a less diverse area, such as BangkaIsland? (3) What is the connection between interreligious com-petence, tolerance, and RE equality in raising religious inherency?Thus, through these questions, the researcher aimed to determinereligious education equality issues and the interactions amongmultireligious students and teachers in formal schools.

Therefore, educational policy practices regarding REFALshould be implemented in each area based on the needs anddemands of the students. The practice of RE equality is addressedto determine the actual conditions for the delivery of RE inmultireligious public schools in these areas and identify thechallenges to delivering RE for multireligious students. Addi-tionally, providing RE based on the context of each area canincrease religious tolerance among students (Raihani, 2014).Religious tolerance can be seen in how students respect otherreligions, whether minority or majority. In a multireligioussociety, tolerance may become the key to reducing religioustension or conflict as well as the knowledge and attitude ininterreligious competence. Moreover, people’s tendency to betolerant towards individuals may differ. There may be multiplereasons for this, but regardless of the reason, respect and accep-tance of diversity can maintain the coexistence of a multireligioussociety. Therefore, in this research, readers can understand thetendency of tolerance as interreligious competence based on theIndonesian context. This attachment can be a part of the emer-gence of religious inherency from religious habits, cultures, andvalues. The idea of raising religious inherency towards a multi-religious society through formal education may enact the conceptof religious inherency formation. The term “inherency” mayrelate to the connection quality established in an individual fromcontinual activity that makes them aware of, in this case, multi-religious existence. As a result, in this study, reviving the edu-cational policy practices of REFAL may focus not only on theeducational equality of RE but also on developed humanity.

Review of the literatureReligious education equality. The beliefs attributed to eachindividual appear to be one of the fundamental rights of humanbeings. Kamruzzaman and Das (2016) mention five featuresincluded in human rights: inherent, not exchangeable, universal,equal, and feasible. Concerning religious plurality and diversity,education is needed to develop the concept of tolerance in societyto understand and prevent misconceptions about religion (Teece,2010). As stated by Bader and Maussen (2012), encouraging apluralist school system based on religious beliefs is applicable tothe idea of neutrality. A pluralist system in education maintains acertain equilibrium between religious freedom and adiscrimination-free environment that supports citizenship edu-cation (Rougier and Honohan, 2015). The urgency of embeddingRE in the education system is a concern in some countries and isadjusted based on the country’s ideology. In Australia, re-engaging youth in religious responses and their beliefs throughfaith education has become a religious matter (Engebretson,2004). In addition, Australians place importance on religiousliteracy among the younger generation (Mason, 2004; McQuillan,2006) and attempt to re-engage youth in the religious concept ofGod (Tacey, 2005) and implement the appropriate curriculum forRE (McQuillan, 2006). In addition, religious education in Aus-tralia focuses only on mono-religious education, specificallyChristian religious education.

In 2008, Canada introduced the Québec Ethics and ReligiousCulture (ERC) program as the emergence of RE in the capital city,Québec (Franken, 2019). This program is obligatory in primaryand secondary education. It is the result of a deconfessionalization

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process to engage the growth of multicultural and multireligioussociety and to avoid secularization in Québec (Estivalèzes, 2017).It aims to guarantee the practice of RE for all Québécois culturesand society. Estivalèzes (2017) adds that although multireligiouseducation has spread in the capital city, in another part of Canada,Ontario, RE is provided to children from 4 to 18 years old. AsCatholics dominate public schools, Catholic religious education isapplied in formal education (Bayefsky and Waldman, 2007).

RE has also spread in countries in the Sub-Saharan Africancontinent, such as Malawi and Ghana, where Christianity andIslam are the majority religions (Meyer, 2004). In the religioussociety of the people in Sub-Saharan Africa, religion significantlyinfluences the way of life, such as how they perceive theirproblems and their culture (Matemba, 2011). Owing to theincreasing number of religions in addition to Christianity,multifaith education was implemented in Malawi in 1998 forthe primary level and in 2000 for the secondary level (Matemba,2011), whereas Ghana started earlier, in 1994 (Meyer, 2004). Theshifting of Christian religious education to multifaith educationwas influenced by the Christian block, which included theMuslim community in religious education (Matemba, 2009).However, multifaith education raises some issues, such as (a)teachers’ knowledge about multiple religions; (b) pedagogicalskills for inclusive strategies; (c) preservice and in-service trainingfor teachers; and (d) the need for specialist teachers for multifaithreligious education. Moreover, as introduced in 1994, multifaitheducation in Ghana is obligatory at the primary and secondarylevels (Matemba and Addai-Mununkum, 2019). It focuses onthree religions: Islam, Christianity, and the African indigenousreligion (AIR). The present issue concerns the phenomenon ofthe misrepresentation of RE in the classroom, where religionshould be introduced to reduce the stereotype that one religion issuperior to others (Gates, 2013).

Moreover, the case study conducted by Hayadin (2017)considers that RE has been provided for all religions accordingto each student’s religion in Indonesia. He sampled 12 public andprivate senior high schools, and the data sources includeddocuments, observations, and interviews with informants such asschool leaders, religious teachers, and students. In addition to theinterviews, focus group discussions were held. The author alsosurveyed the service index of RE in Indonesia (Hayadin, 2018).This survey was conducted in 34 provincial capital cities ofIndonesia with senior and vocational high schools selectedthrough a random sampling technique. The data were collectedby surveyors who were supervisors in each region by using aquestionnaire; they first coached the researchers and thenconducted spot checks. The results showed that the number ofreligious education services nationally included in the highcategory was 7.8 out of 10. The score was an aggregation of theavailability of religious teachers, the availability of religiousinstruction, and the capacity of religious teachers to servestudents in religious activities and learning in schools. Thesetwo studies mainly showed positive results for RE in Indonesia.

Many countries have attempted to implement multireligiouseducation, although it is mostly still dominated by the religiousmajority. Some barriers have emerged following the implementa-tion of multireligious education, such as in Malawi, where themain issues are teacher competency and pedagogical skills toaddress multifaith education. Compared to other countries,Indonesia has six legal religions and has made RE a compulsorysubject in public school. Thus, as Indonesia is more multi-religious, challenges may also appear in implementing REFAL.There are several gaps in previous research on the implementa-tion of REFAL in Indonesia. Research primarily focuses on thehigher secondary level. In addition, previous surveys wereconducted in provincial capital cities. Thus, to bridge these gaps,

this article examines primary and lower secondary levels. Thisstudy investigates urban or diverse areas and remote-rural or lessdiverse areas to obtain contextual findings on the implementationof RE in different settings.

Interreligious competence and religious inherency in a multi-religious society. In a multireligious society, the interactionbetween religions determines certain issues, such as inequalityissues, prejudice against one religion, and discrimination. Inter-religious communication must be developed to raise recognitionin multireligious societies, especially in Indonesia, which has sixrecognized legal religions. Interreligious communication caninstruct the development of self-awareness towards a multi-religious setting in society (Lindsay, 2020). Therefore, thisawareness will lead to acceptance of the religious diversity insociety. Furthermore, Morgan and Sandage (2016) describe thestages of denial, orientation, defense, reversal, recognition,adaptation, acceptance, and integration as the processes in thedevelopmental framework of interreligious competence. Thisresearch attempts to show adaptation, acceptance, and integra-tion, which are later referred to as interreligious competence,amid the challenges of achieving REFAL in Indonesia’s multi-religious public schools.

Managing diversity is connected to tolerance and open-mindedness, which involves different perspectives among themajority and minority societies. Diversity tends to be framed interms of certain group identities, including race, language,religion, and ethnicity (Blommaert and Verschueren, 2002). Insociety, group relations are interrelated with perceptions oftolerant minorities and majorities. As Scanlon (2003) states,tolerance must result in an indeterminate perspective thatinvolves conceptual and political issues. The concept of toleranceis rarely identified by the limits of rights. Therefore, one maystand with one’s group and determine what is wrong and whatone should do, which influences the political prominence of one’sgroup. Dijker and Koomen (2015) also identify three major socialcontrols: repair, stigmatization, and tolerance. These threefunctions represent people’s attempt to adapt social conditionsand social norms to maintain morality and social order. Thus,consciousness and awareness of the spirit of tolerance mustinvolve the social system.

Misconceptions in determining the gaps in multiculturalismmay lead to conflict and violence. Critical actions for enhancing atolerant attitude involve accepting and respecting multicultural-ism (Triandafyllidou, 2012). An ‘ideal concept’ of tolerance maybe ambiguous. In the case of the religious freedom of amulticultural society, tolerance can be an inclusive action torecognize the right to believe in a religion. Moreover, a tolerantsociety is free from discrimination, which results from a feeling ofdominant power (Adeney-Risakotta, 2014). Emphasizing RE maybe one of the keys to enhancing the attitude of tolerance inmultireligious countries such as Indonesia. Objectively establish-ing religious education for all religions is an effective way toalleviate the tension among religions (Evans, 2008). It is theinstrument of peace and civic education, cross-cultural education,ethics, and education for tolerance (Darmody and Smyth, 2017).

Raising religious connectedness in students based on theirbeliefs shapes their religious attachment and is referred to as‘religious inherency’. The idea of religious inherency is rarelymentioned in academic discussions. It is related to a particularlinkage in an individual (Steffen, 2010). Ramcharan (2008) statesthat inherency may be related to the nature and nurture ofcommon humanity. In other words, it contains unique internalenergy that can activate consciousness in continuity (Steffen,2011). Thus, we can briefly say that religious inherency is an

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individual’s strong feeling or connection towards religion.Therefore, it is not merely equal to religious identity. This articleconsiders the concept of religious inherency and its manifestationin the small-scale community system of multireligious schools inIndonesia as a theoretical contribution to humanities and socialscience knowledge. Thus, the ultimate expectation of creatingtolerance in a multireligious community and providing a peacefulenvironment for a multireligious society can be met.

Religious education for all religions in IndonesiaThe development of RE in Indonesia began after the colonializationperiod. In 1946, the Department of Religious Affairs and theDepartment of Education and Culture had the idea to include REonly for grades 4 to 6 in ‘Sekolah Rakyat’ elementary school (Asrori,2016). However, it could not be implemented effectively due to thecountry’s situation. It was then redesigned in a formal school in1947. According to Asrori (2016), after the government was wellestablished in 1950, both ministries issued a joint decree stating thefollowing points: (a) religious subjects would be taught at the ele-mentary level; (b) religious subjects would be taught twice a week atthe secondary level; (c) at least 10 students in each class would betaught with their parents’ permission; and (d) the Department ofReligious Affairs would undertake the main responsibility for reli-gious subjects. Religious subjects mostly focused on Islamic reli-gious education until National Educational System No. 2/1989 waspublished, which stated that RE must be delivered for all religions(Government of Republic of Indonesia, 1989).

According to Asrori (2016), during the New Order era (1967),RE became a compulsory subject in public school from the ele-mentary to the university level a) to avoid the influence ofcommunism on students and b) because of the significance ofreligion in national politics. This was a result of the decision inTAP MPRS (legislative decision) No. XXII/MPRS 1966. In brief,after the national curriculum was released in 1984, the govern-ment launched the National Education System, which stated thatreligious subjects must be taught in public and private schoolsbased on the students’ religions. After the reformation era, toincrease educational equality among religions in RE, the gov-ernment launched the Indonesia Constitution No. 20/2003 as theAct of Republic of Indonesia on National Educational System.Then, Government Regulation No. 55/2007 was established asguidance for implementing religious subjects in schools (Republicof Indonesia, 2007). It was renewed in the Ministry of ReligiousAffairs Policy No. 16/2010 for religious education managementguidance for schools (Ministry of Religious Affairs, 2010).

Like most countries, the educational system in Indonesia isdivided into the elementary level, higher secondary level, andtertiary level. As shown in Fig. 1, schools in Indonesia are run bythe Ministry of Education and Culture (MOEC), Ministry ofReligious Affairs (MORA), and private institutions. MOECfocuses on both public and private schools, which are non-religious (Ministry of Education and Culture of Indonesia, 2017).MORA focuses on religious schools, both private and public. Inaddition, MORA also has a monitoring function for pesantren(Islamic boarding schools). The curriculum is based on thenational curriculum by MOEC and the religious education cur-riculum by MORA. Thus, the subject of religion became anobligatory subject in the national curricula Kurikulum BerbasisKompetensi (KBK), ‘Competence-Based Curriculum’ (Karim,2002); Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan (KTSP), ‘Educa-tional Unit Level Curriculum’ (Karsidi, 2006); and Kurikulum2013, ‘Curriculum of 2013’ (Kementrian Pendidikan dan Kebu-dayaan RI, 2013). In the current curriculum, religious subjects aretaught four hours a week at the elementary level, three hours aweek at the junior high-school level, and three hours a week at the

senior high-school level. Learning material must be based on theCurriculum 2013 by MOEC and the Religious Education Curri-culum by MORA.

The importance of religious education in IndonesiaGeographically, Indonesia is one of the most diverse countries inthe world. More than 17,000 islands (Geospatial InformationAgency of Indonesia, 2017) and approximately 633 ethnicities(Joko and Triwahyudi, 2017) exist in Indonesia. Indonesia has725 languages, but only approximately 600 are currently spoken(Alcorn and Royo, 2000). In addition, based on Indonesia’s 1945Constitution, Indonesia is not a secular or Islamic state (Künklerand Lerner, 2016), although it has the characteristics of a religiouscountry (Masrukhin and Supaat, 2018). On the other hand, due tothis diversity, Indonesia has ethnic conflict, religious conflict, andinterclass and government conflict. The worst conflict in Indo-nesia was the Maluku War in 1999 between Muslims andChristians (Goss, 2016). This conflict lasted from 1999 to 2004 inAmbon, South Sulawesi, but it rapidly spread to other areas, suchas Buru, Tanimbar, Aru, Kei, North Maluku, Poso, and evenLombok (Buchanan, 2011). During this conflict, approximately5,000–9,000 people died, 300,000–700,000 people were homeless,and 29,000 mosques and churches were destroyed (Siddiq, 2005).

In the early formation of the Republic of Indonesia, after thecolonialization period, RE was predominantly focused on Islamicreligious education (Noor and Siregar, 2013). Therefore, to reducethe tension among religions and ensure equal religious education,multireligious education was implemented in the school system asstated in the Act of Republic of Indonesia on National Educa-tional System of the Indonesia Constitution No. 20/2003. In amultireligious society, the importance of RE is to prevent religiousconflict (Barnes, 2014). RE is considered an instrument of peaceand civic education, cross-cultural education, ethics, and toler-ance (Darmody and Smyth, 2017). Additionally, RE is intended tofulfill the human right to education and the right to believe in onereligion (Engebretson et al., 2010).

As in the Educational Law of Indonesia (Republic of Indonesia,2007), RE has a function ‘to develop the character, competence,and civilization to enlighten the way of their life. It is aimed tocreate a good human being to become creative, skillful, healthy,educated, independent, peaceful, democratic, and responsiblecitizens’. In addition, RE aims to build an understanding of one’sway of life to perceive language, habits, culture, etc., in diversity.By integrating character education and religious values in RE, thegovernment expects that RE may build good character andemphasize the self-identity and national identity of students inaccordance with their religions. The main purposes of religiouseducation in Indonesia are to obtain religious knowledge aboutpraying or worshiping one religion and to gain religious valuesthat can be used in students’ lives. Reflecting on that purpose, thecontents of religious subjects mainly focus on religious worshippractices. The substance of religious subjects is derived from eachreligion’s Holy Book, which serves as a guide for students.

Methodology and case contextProviding REFAL is one of the strategies of Indonesia’s govern-ment to respect all religions in Indonesia. Providing RE accordingto each religion identically separates the religious school. Asshown in Fig. 1, MORA and MOEC are involved in controllingRE. This study focused on public schools that were directlycontrolled by MOEC. Public schools under MOEC are non-religious, but they also have more than one religious student inthe school. Thus, this research investigated how RE is delivered tomultireligious students. The purpose was to observe how thestudents interact in the context of diverse religions. This research

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utilized a case study approach to understand the delivery of equalreligious education in each area. Interviews, focus group discus-sions, and observations were conducted to obtain data. Toexamine the unique case of providing REFAL in Indonesia, theresearcher investigated two different areas selected using a top-down approach (see Fig. 2): Yogyakarta Province and BangkaIsland. They were selected because of the considerations of reli-gious history and religious and cultural diversity.

Elementary and junior high schools in these two areas wereincluded in this research. The participants were principals, mul-tireligious teachers, and multireligious students. In selecting the

samples, purposeful random sampling was utilized in thisresearch. In Yogyakarta, Sleman Regency was selected as thesample because it was considered the most diverse region basedon the religious population in Yogyakarta (Ministry of ReligiousAffairs, 2016). Additionally, considering historical conditions, thecomplex religious history of the Sleman Regency might have animpact on current religious conditions. In the Bangka Islands, theCentral Bangka Regency was selected as the sample because it isnear the capital city, which was considered the area with the mostgrowth and multiple religions. In Bangka, each village has oneelementary school, and each subregency has a junior high school.To ensure multireligious public schools, the school sample wasbased on the schools’ locations in multiethnic villages. The casecontext of the research area is shown in Table 1.

As the multireligious context is the focus of this article, twelveelementary and lower secondary public schools were taken as theresearch samples based on the existing religious diversity in theschools, with six schools from each area. The researcher classifieddemographic information according to the students’ religionsbased on the research sample schools (see Tables 2 and 3). Theproportion of students’ religions from the total population of2,071 students in Yogyakarta was as follows: approximately94.10% of students were Muslim, 3.81% of students wereCatholic, 1.93% of students were Christian, and 0.14% of studentswere Hindu. Thus, the largest number of students was Muslim,and the sample schools had only four major religions represented:Islam, Catholicism, Christianity, and Hinduism. The religious

Private institution/foundation

Republic of Indonesia

Public Private Public

Private, e.g., Muhammadiyah, Nahdlatul Ulama, Kristius, Santo

Yosef, etc.

Taman Kanak-kanak (Kindergarten)

Sekolah Dasar (Elementary school)

Sekolah Menengah Pertama (Junior high school)

University, College,

Polytechnic, etc.

Bustanul/Raudatul Athfal (Islamic kindergarten)

Madrasah Ibtidaiyah (Islamic elementary school)

Madrasah Tsanawiyah (Islamic junior high school)

Madrasah Aliyah/Kejuruan (Islamic senior/vocational

high school)

Islamic university,

Islamic college, etc.

Taman Kanak-kanak (Kindergarten)

Sekolah Dasar (Elementary school)

Sekolah Menengah Pertama (Junior high school)

Sekolah Menengah Atas/Kejuruan (Senior/vocational high school)

University, College,

Polytechnic, etc.

Ministry of Religious Affairs (MORA)

Ministry of Education and Culture (MOEC)

Control function line Report function line Monitoring function line

Non- Religious school Religious school

Sekolah Menengah Atas/Kejuruan (Senior/vocational high school)

Islamic school

Formal educational system

Fig. 1 Indonesia educational system. Formal educational system of Indonesia concerning religious education. Source: author attributed (developed andadapted from statistical data of education of Indonesia 2017/2018) (Ministry of Education and Culture of Indonesia, 2017; Utami et al., 2021).

Yogyakarta

Province

Bangka Belitung

Province

Indonesia

Religious context of each area

Religious history

Multi-cultural context

Sleman

Regency

Central

Bangka

Regency

Religious population

Geographical location

Multi-religious public

elementary/ secondary

school Multi-religious students

Data availability

Fig. 2 Research sampling technique. Top-down reasons for the researchsampling.

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population in the Bangka sample schools, out of a total popula-tion of 1855 students, was as follows: 93.74% of students wereMuslim; 2.10% of students were Buddhist; 1.40% of students wereCatholic; 1.83% of students were Confucian; and 0.91% of stu-dents were Christian. Based on Figs. 3 and 4, comparable toYogyakarta, the largest population in Bangka is also Muslim.However, in Bangka sample schools, the five religions were Islam,Buddhism, Catholicism, Confucianism, and Christianity.

Regarding the number of non-Muslim students, both areas hadrelatively the same number. On the other hand, there were morereligions in Bangka schools than in Yogyakarta schools. Thus, asthe most diverse area, Yogyakarta’s public schools were not moremultireligious than Bangka’s schools, even though Bangka wasconsidered a less diverse area.

From the research sample schools, thirty-eight participantswere interviewed (see Table 4). They included ten principals, a

Table 1 Case contexts of Yogyakarta and Bangka.

Sectors Yogyakarta Bangka

GeographyPopulation 3.8 million (Badan Pusat Statistik Wilayah Yogyakarta,

2018)1.4 million (Badan Pusat Statistik Wilayah Kepulauan BangkaBelitung, 2018)

Geographical condition Mountain areas, plain areas, and ocean areas Ocean areas, hills areas, and plain areasHead of gov. King (as Governor) GovernorAuthority regionaldivision

One city: YogyakartaFour regencies; Sleman, Bantul, Kulon Progo, andGunungkidul regency

One city: Pangkal PinangSix regencies; Bangka, Central Bangka, South Bangka, WestBangka, Belitung, and East Belitung regency

HistoryReligious history According to Pramumijoyo et al. (2009); Miswanto

(2012); Dewanti (2018); and Aldiansyah (2018)The eighth centuryBuddhism era (ancient Mataram Kingdom)The nineth centuryHinduism era (Mataram Kingdom)The sixteenth centuryIslam era (the Demak Kingdom and the Islam MataramKingdom)The nineteenth centuryRaise of Muhammadiyah organization in Yogyakarta

According to Sujitno (2011)The second centuryFirst population era by traders from Arabian plateau, Chinese,Europe, and Portuguese, who passed the silk trade route atBangka straitThe nineth centuryBuddhism era (the Sriwijaya Kingdom, which had a relationshipwith the Tang Dynasty from China)The thirteenth centuryIslam era (Samudra Pasai Kingdom)

CultureEthnics Javanese Malay and ChineseLanguage Javanese language Malay languageTradition Kirab budaya (traditional culture festival by the

Kingdom)Sekaten (celebrating the birthday of ProphetMuhammad Salallahu’alaihi Wassalam)Grebek Maulud (one series of Sekaten)Siraman (heirloom cleaning day of the King’s heritage)Labuhan (celebrating the coronation day of the King)etc.

Khataman or tamatan (celebration after finishing reciting The HolyQur’an)Ruwah (preparation celebration before Ramadhan, fasting month)Perang Ketupat (celebrating Eid Fitr)Nganggung (eating together with people in one village)Peh Cun (for remembering the relationship between Bangka’sancestors, historians, and Chuow Dynasty) etc.

EconomyIndustry Home industry; traditional food, batik (clothes), silver

craft, etc.Mining industry; tin/leadHome industry; food (seafood product), kain cual (traditionalclothes), etc.

Agriculture Rice, cassava, vegetable Rubber, palm oil, pepperTourism Cultural heritage, natural tourism, marine tourism Marine tourism, natural tourism, cultural heritage

Table 2 Demographic information of students’ religion on sample schools in Sleman regency, Yogyakarta.

Yogyakarta

Schools’ name Islam Christian Catholic Buddhism Hindu Confucianism Total

Elementary School of Tirtoadi 164 3 – – – – 167Elementary School of Cebongan 370 9 26 – 1 – 406Elementary School of Sendangadi 1 324 – 7 – - – 331Junior High School of Mlati 1 362 6 17 – 1 – 386Junior High School of Godean 1 353 12 17 – 1 – 383Junior High School of Godean 2 376 10 12 – - – 398Total students 1949 40 79 – 3 – 2071Percentage 94.10% 1.93% 3.81% 0% 0.14% 0% 100%

The bold values in the row total show the total number of students of each religion in the population.

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vice-principal, eleven religious subject teachers, a classroom tea-cher, and fifteen students. The principals and vice-principal wereinterviewed to obtain information about the policy implementa-tion related to religious education for all religions as determinedby the national government. The teacher/religious subject tea-chers and students were interviewed to understand how religiouseducation was delivered to all religions. In addition, observationand focus group discussions were also conducted to observe theinteraction among the multireligious students. Subsequently, theauthor transcribed and translated the interview records to gainmore understanding of the content of the interview. They wereanalyzed by classifying the interview transcription into severalthemes: RE delivery strategy, RE teacher distribution, and REteacher availability. These classifications were expected to answerthe first and second research questions. Then, the observationsand focus group discussions were expected to answer the thirdresearch question.

Findings and discussionAchieving equity in education has been set as a goal for 2030education in the Sustainable Development Goals as the next step forreducing inequality in education. Considering the multireligious

setting and the importance of RE in Indonesia, religious educationfor each religion must be considered to prevent violent conflict.Previous studies suggest that RE following the religion in senior orvocational high school cases was well delivered (Hayadin, 2017) andobtained a high service index (Hayadin, 2018). In contrast, thisstudy showed a different situation. As previous research focuses onthe senior high-school level, which demonstrated a positive result,taking elementary and junior high schools as the research samplesin Yogyakarta and Bangka showed that not all students received REbased on their religion, especially in the Bangka schools. The con-ditions in Yogyakarta were consistent with previous findings. Inurban areas, RE was successfully provided for all religions. However,in the Bangka schools, most non-Muslim students received RE inan integrated Islamic subject class where they studied together withMuslim students. There are several possible reasons for the differentresults between previous studies and this research. Previous studiesused senior or vocational high schools as the sample, whereas thisstudy used a sample of elementary and junior high schools. Inaddition, previous research focused on each province’s major city orurban areas, whereas this research focused on semiurban and rural-remote areas.

The different characteristics of the research samples fromprevious studies showed contrasting results. In urban areas, it canbe said that RE was well delivered according to the students’

Table 3 Demographic information of students’ religion on sample schools in Central Bangka regency, Bangka.

Central Bangka regency

Schools’ name Islam Christian Catholic Buddhism Hindu Confucianism Total

Elementary School 1 of Simpang Katis 345 1 – 21 – 2 369Elementary School 6 of Simpang Katis 195 – 9 5 – 12 221Elementary School 8 of Sungai Selan 243 6 3 5 – 11 268Junior High School 1 of Simpang Katis 336 4 – 1 – 3 344Junior High School 2 of Sungai Selan 303 4 4 6 – 3 320Junior High School 2 of Koba 317 2 10 1 – 3 333Total students 1739 17 26 39 – 34 1855Percentage 93.74% 0.91% 1.40% 2.10% 0% 1.83% 100%

The bold values in the row percentage show the percentage of each religious students toward the total population.

94%

2%4%

0%

0%

0%

Yogyakarta(Sample schools)

Islam Christian CatholicBuddhism Hindu Confucianism

Fig. 3 Research population. Multireligious school samples in Yogyakarta.

94%

1%

1%

2%0%2%

Bangka(Sample schools)

Islam Christian CatholicBuddhism Hindu Confucianism

Fig. 4 Research population. Multireligious school samples in Bangka.

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religion, such as in Yogyakarta. Most of the schools providedreligious subject teachers for each religion. Thus, all studentsobtained RE according to their religion. In contrast, in semiurbanand rural remote areas, there were many difficulties and chal-lenges in delivering RE based on students’ religion. Providing REin Bangka might pose many challenges in rural or remote-ruralareas, even semiurban areas. As noted previously, in the case ofBangka, most schools could not separate the religious subjectclass based on the students’ religion, especially for non-Muslimstudents. Islamic subject teachers were sufficient for each school,unlike the situation for non-Muslim students. The lack of suffi-cient religious subject teachers for non-Muslim students was dueto four reasons: (a) the minimum number of students; (b) a lackof human resources; (c) the school budget; and (d) the area’scondition.

The small number of students of particular religions was thefirst barrier to providing REFAL in multireligious public schools.To open a religious subject class, there must be a minimum of15 students in one grade (Ministry of Religious Affairs, 2010).Most public schools in Yogyakarta and Bangka had fewer than15 students who had the same religion in one grade. Thus, theschool had no obligation to provide the class; otherwise, thegovernment or the school could provide a religious subject tea-cher. RE could also be obtained from nonformal and informaleducation in the religious community. Yogyakarta could provide

sufficient religious education for all religions. However, inBangka, non-Muslim children in the village received relativelylittle nonformal education. In this situation, some children had togo to the city or urban area. The principal of Elementary School 1Simpangkatis of Central Bangka Regency, under the pseudonymof P19, described the situation as follows.

(Translated by the author) Non-Muslims are approximatelytwenty-four students. For religious subjects, we only haveIslamic subjects. They follow Islamic subjects. It is based onthe declaration letter. When they enter this school, theydeclare that they will follow Islamic subject because wedon’t have a non-Muslim subject teacher. Yes, I had(informed the local government about the need for religioussubject teachers for non-Muslim students). Perhaps this isdue to the small number of students. Perhaps the case willbe similar in private Christian schools such as SD Teresia.They may not provide Islamic religious teachers becausethere are only two or three students.

The quotation above shows that one of the problems withproviding religious subject teachers is the small number of stu-dents of a particular religion. In the case of P19, ElementarySchool 1 Simpangkatis of Central Bangka regency had twenty-four non-Muslim students from all grades. One grade consisted offewer than fifteen students. Therefore, the school had no

Table 4 List of participants.

No. Participant Religion Affiliation Position

1 P1 Islam Elementary School of Tirtoadi Headmaster2 P2 Islam Elementary School of Cebongan Headmaster3 P3 Islam Elementary School of Cebongan Religious Education Teacher (Islamic Religious Education)4 P4 Islam Elementary School of Sendangadi 1 Headmaster5 P5 Islam Junior High School of Mlati 1 Headmaster6 P6 Islam Junior High School of Mlati 1 Religious Education Teacher (Islamic Religious Education)7 P7 Christian Junior High School of Mlati 1 Student8 P8 Islam Junior High School of Mlati 1 Student9 P9 Islam Junior High School of Mlati 1 Student10 P10 Islam Junior High School of Mlati 1 Student11 P11 Islam Junior High School of Mlati 1 Student12 P12 Catholic Junior High School of Mlati 1 Student13 P13 Christian Junior High School of Godean 1 Religious Education Teacher (Christian Religious Education)14 P14 Catholic Junior High School of Godean 1 Religious Education Teacher (Catholic Religious Education)15 P15 Islam Junior High School of Godean 1 Religious Education Teacher (Islamic Religious Education)16 P16 Islam Junior High School of Godean 2 Headmaster17 P17 Islam Junior High School of Godean 2 Student18 P18 Islam Junior High School of Godean 2 Student19 P19 Islam Elementary School 1 of Simpang Katis Headmaster20 P20 Islam Elementary School 1 of Simpang Katis Teacher21 P21 Islam Elementary School 6 of Simpang Katis Headmaster22 P22 Islam Elementary School 6 of Simpang Katis Religious Education Teacher (Islamic Religious Education)23 P23 Islam Elementary School 8 of Sungai Selan Headmaster24 P24 Islam Elementary School 8 of Sungai Selan Religious Education Teacher (Islamic Religious Education)25 P25 Christian Junior High School 1 of Simpang Katis Vice-Principal (Academic affairs)26 P26 Islam Junior High School 1 of Simpang Katis Religious Education Teacher (Islamic Religious Education)27 P27 Islam Junior High School 1 of Simpang Katis Religious Education Teacher (Islamic Religious Education)28 P28 Buddhist Junior High School 1 of Simpang Katis Student29 P29 Islam Junior High School 1 of Simpang Katis Student30 P30 Islam Junior High School 2 of Sungai Selan Headmaster31 P31 Islam Junior High School 2 of Sungai Selan Religious Education Teacher (Islamic Religious Education)32 P32 Kong Hu Chu/Confucian Junior High School 2 of Sungai Selan Student33 P33 Islam Junior High School 2 of Sungai Selan Student34 P34 Islam Junior High School 2 of Koba Headmaster35 P35 Islam Junior High School 2 of Koba Religious Education Teacher (Islamic Religious Education)36 P36 Catholic Junior High School 2 of Koba Student37 P37 Catholic Junior High School 2 of Koba Student38 P38 Catholic Junior High School 2 of Koba Student

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obligation to provide a religious subject teacher for non-Muslimstudents.

On the other hand, even though some schools tried to providea religious subject teacher for non-Muslim students, they facedother challenges. Deciding who would become the religioussubject teacher for non-Muslim students was challenging forschools. The main reason was the lack of human resources forproviding RE for non-Muslim students in Bangka. P30, theprincipal of junior high school 2 of Sungai Selan of CentralBangka Regency, stated that:

(Translated by the author) Let me explain. This is becauseIslam is the dominant number here. Actually, many yearsago, we separated the class. There was a pastor for Christianstudents, and then, for Konghuchu (Confucian students),we also had a religious leader from the temple. Yes, temple,that’s it. However, it was around 2009, and 2010 may be thelast time. After 2010, we did not separate the class.Therefore, they study the Islamic class. During the time ofIslamic class, they can join or go to the library, they learnreligious education outside the school. Then, for the exambased on their religion, Christians are from the Pastor, andKonghuchu students are also from their religious leader atthe temple. Now, we don’t. We had before, but now theteacher from Konghuchu passed away. Then, for theChristian, the Church could not send a teacher again. Idon’t know for sure why they couldn’t send them.Therefore, religious education subjects in the school followIslamic subjects.

Based on the quotation above, P30 explains that the obstacle toproviding religious education according to students’ religion isthe lack of human resources for teaching religious subjects. Asdescribed above, the school provided a religious subject teacherfor minority religions, but after 2010, they could not do sobecause they could not find someone capable of teaching religiouseducation according to the student’s religion. A teacher is acentral person in a teaching-learning classroom activity. As statedby Lunenberg et al. (2007), all actions, behaviors, and statementsinfluence student development. Moreover, teachers play a role inbuilding the positive character of students (Narinasamy andLogeiswaran, 2015). When employing religious subject teachers,teachers’ capability to transfer religious values to multireligiousstudents must be taken into consideration. Therefore, the focus ofthe school is to recruit a teacher who meets government quali-fications as a religious subject teacher. This is because the pro-fession of religious subject teachers requires the qualifications tobring religious values and moral character to public servant tea-chers, contract teachers, or additional temporary teachers(Sunandar, 2015).

Another challenge in providing a religious subject teacher fornon-Muslim students in multireligious public schools was a lackof budget. Budget limitations caused schools not to recruit non-Islamic subject teachers. As mentioned by P21 below, the prin-cipal of Elementary School 6 Simpangkatis of the Central BangkaRegency,

(Translated by the author) Perhaps, it may be because theyhave non-Muslim students more than others or just effortfrom the school. For me, we don’t have any budget forproviding nonpublic servant teachers, but if their religiouscommunity wants to come and give the lecture, we are gladto have that.

P21 says that the obstacle to providing RE for religious min-ority students is the lack of budget for hiring a religious subjectteacher. Because of the small number of certain religious studentsin one school, there was no obligation to provide a religious

subject teacher. If they wanted to hire a religious subject teacher,they needed to use the school budget expenses. In Indonesia, eachregion has a UMR (Upah Minimal Regional ‘regional minimumsalary’) for teachers. It becomes a consideration in school budgetexpenses for the school. When religious subject teachers arerecruited but paid less than the UMR, there is concern that thepay may not match the workload of the RE teacher and mayaffect teaching quality (The World Bank and Kementerian Pen-didikan Nasional, 2011).

The area conditions might be another aspect that affects thedifficulty in providing religious teachers for non-Muslim stu-dents. Based on the investigation in Bangka, most multireligiouspublic schools in rural and remote-rural areas had integratedIslamic subject classes. Only in urban areas could provide a non-Islamic subject teacher for RE, as stated by P21, the principal ofElementary School 6 Simpangkatis of Central Bangka regencybelow.

(Translated by the author) Until now, not yet. For someschools, they do such as schools in Koba (the capital city ofthe Central Bangka Regency).

The same situation was also mentioned by P30, the principal ofJunior High School 2 of Sungai Selan, Central Bangka Regency.

(Translated by the author) This is the remote area problem.For the city area, it should be no problem, I think. Theyalready have each religious subject teachers.

These cases show that human resources for non-Islamic tea-chers may be available only in urban areas. The distance from theurban area to a rural or remote-rural area was far, and it wasineffective to transfer teachers for non-Islamic subjects to thoseareas. Therefore, this situation became an obstacle in providingREFAL. These were the main challenges in providing a religioussubject teacher for all religions in Bangka. Although they mayhave collaborated with the religious community outside of theschools, it was not sustainable. Despite this situation, they tried tobuild tolerance among multiple religions.

To provide the same opportunity to obtain religious educationfor each religion in Bangka, the minimum number of students,lack of human resources, lack of school budget, and area condi-tions are fundamental obstacles and represent a lack of awarenessof providing religious education for all religions. In addition, theparents did not complain about this condition. The lack of inputfrom the parents about this issue supported the quiet acceptanceof the REFAL issue. Potentially, the thought of less power felt bynon-Muslim students caused them to remain silent and acceptthe situation. From non-Muslim students’ and teachers’ per-spectives, even though they followed an Islamic-integrated class,it did not mean they must convert to Islam or leave their beliefs.As a result, they might obtain religious values from Islam thatcould reinforce their beliefs in their religion.

In these situations, religious education for all religions inIndonesia had not been achieved, especially in rural or remote-rural places. Most suburban or remote public schools in Bangkaimplemented Islamic-integrated education. This means that mostnon-Muslim students study RE with Muslim students in Islamicsubject classes. This integration changed the meaning of RE fromobtaining religious values about the concept of human life togetting a grade since RE is a compulsory subject. The barriers ofthe minimum number of students, lack of human resources, lackof a school budget, and the area conditions led to a lack ofawareness of schools for providing the same opportunity toobtain religious education based on students’ religion. Moreover,less power as the minority drove non-Muslims to remain silentand accept the situation to maintain their coexistence in theschool community. This silence was believed to create a peaceful

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school environment. Thus, they referred to community involve-ment to maintain a balance in obtaining RE in the school.

Owing to the existing barriers to providing religious educationin Bangka, the school chose to involve the community, especiallyin practical examinations, to maintain the balance of RE. How-ever, it was insufficient for providing the same opportunity forobtaining REFAL. As previously mentioned, some barriers existedto providing religious subject teachers, especially for non-Muslimstudents. In the enrollment period, the school explained thesituation of RE. In the school parents’ meeting, as mentioned bythe headmaster, there were no objections from the parents aboutthe situation. In addition, during the observation, the researcherobserved that the students learned actively in both areas. Theytended to help their friends in the discussion process. Even in theBangka area, Muslim and non-Muslim students interacted well,despite unequal conditions for religious education. As stated byone of the Confucian students in grade 2 in Junior High School ofBangka,

(Translated by the author) Thus far, we (non-Muslimstudents) have no obstacles in this situation (the multi-religious school setting where they are the minority). Wecan interact with others. For example, every Friday, we haveThe Holy Qur’an reciting (Muslim students), and Chris-tians recite their Bible, and for me, I will go to the librarybecause Confucians do not have a holy book.

However, based on the discussion with non-Muslim teachersand students, they accepted this situation to respect the schoolcondition. As a result of having less authority as a minority,non-Muslims were to remain silent and accept the situation.This silence and the four barriers caused a lack of awareness inschools about providing the same opportunity to obtain reli-gious education based on students’ religion. In this case, thetendency towards tolerance was influenced by the conditionsthat forced them to have such an attitude. It was done tomaintain the coexistence of a multireligious society in schools inother remote or rural areas. Based on the observations inYogyakarta and Bangka, Muslim and non-Muslim students hadclose interactions during the school activity. In addition, thedecision of both Muslim and non-Muslim students in the schoolto accept and respect the conditions functioned as a strategy tocreate a peaceful school environment that was conducive tolearning. This acceptance and respect reflected the attitude oftolerance in the school.

Conclusion and limitationsIn the educational practice of RE, the main goal of the govern-ment is to provide religious education based on students’ religion.The aim is to achieve equality in religious education and respectthe right to religion and right to education. The function of RE isto develop students’ character, competence, and civilization toenlighten their life and to create good human beings who canbecome creative, skillful, healthy, learned, independent, peaceful,responsible, and democratic citizens based on their religion.Reflecting on the questions of this article regarding whetherreligious education is provided equally to all religions, weobserved the barriers that obstructed equal delivery. However,judging equality and inequality must be based on appropriateindicators in context. Therefore, as in the Bangka schools, fourmain barriers prevented the equality of RE in Indonesia: (a) theminimum number of students; (b) lack of human resources; (c)school budget; and (d) conditions of the area. With regards toopportunity, the Yogyakarta schools had the same opportunityfor all religions as the Bangka schools. Yogyakarta might notbecome the reference model for the equal delivery of RE since thecontext was different, and the obstacles in Bangka were not dis-covered in Yogyakarta.

In providing REFAL, less diverse rural areas may not providethe same opportunities but may show a tendency towards toler-ance to save society. As shown in Fig. 5, regarding input, thenational government has established a policy to provide educa-tion for each religion. Therefore, by adopting a decentralizedsystem, each local government is responsible for providing REbased on the needs and demands of the students. However, in thedistribution process, many obstacles remain to reach the goal ofequality. The output process demonstrates interreligious compe-tence that encourages Muslim students in multireligious com-munities, such as school settings, to react as the majority on asmall scale. Additionally, it provides insight for non-Muslimstudents on how to perceive the multireligious community as theminority in the school environment. Reflecting on the lastquestion on the relation between interreligious competence, tol-erance, and religious inherency, the way the students perceivedand accepted multiculturalism and multiple religions in schoolsstimulated religious inherency among multireligious students as asocial control to maintain the morality and social system ofsociety. It drove the students to be attached to the concept ofinterreligious competence. Figure 3 shows how the interactionamong the multireligious students occurs.

Most diverse urban area (Yogyakarta) Equal input

Classroom learning

RE teacher for each religion

Learning material

Learning assessment based on religion

Religious education equality

Less diverse rural area (Bangka) Equal input challenging

Classroom learning

Lack of RE teacher for each religion

Learning material

Learning assessment based on available

religious subject

Religious

community

involvement

Output Interreligious competences

Religious Inherency

Tolerance

Helping others

Respecting teacher

and friends

Learning together

Sharing learning

books

Learning actively

Attitudes

Knowledge/

understanding

Skills

Actions

Fig. 5 Research framework. The relationship root of religious inherency and interreligious competence in RE equality.

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In summary, this study demonstrated the framework of reli-gious education delivery for the Yogyakarta and Bangka areasbased on school factors. In Yogyakarta, the opportunity to obtainRE was available to all religions compared to Bangka, in whichthe community was involved in maintaining the balance of reli-gious education. Therefore, this practice could be representativeof other urban and rural areas with the same conditions. Thishypothetical framework is the starting point for equal religiouseducation in other settings with different characteristics.

In this research, some limitations should be noted in investi-gating the equality practices of religious education. First, inanalyzing policy practice and implementation, this research hadless information from local governments in both areas. Theresearcher had difficulty accessing information about the policyregarding the effort of local government in providing REFAL. Theinformation could be a useful resource for signifying how thelocal government interprets national policy and delivers RE formultireligious students in multireligious public schools. Second,in this research, the researcher mostly focused on the schoolfactor in investigating the equal delivery of religious education.There was little information regarding community factors toprovide religious education based on students’ religion. In addi-tion, the conclusions were based on an investigation of schoolfactors through sharing, dialog, and interviews with schoolmembers. To fully comprehend the whole concept of religiousinherency, in which community involvement plays a significantrole, this research may not be sufficient. Therefore, furtherresearch may result in more robust conclusions by investigatingcommunity factors.

Data availabilityThe datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current studyare available in the [Harvard Dataverse] repository, under thename Pratiwi Tri Utami dataverse: https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/8O9MNU.

Received: 11 February 2022; Accepted: 3 August 2022;

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AcknowledgementsThe author received support from the Scientific Research Grant (Fundamental A), aresearch project title “The dynamism of resonance of the reforming Muslimness” forwhich Kusakabe Tatsuya is the principal investigator and Hiroshima University Next-Generation fellowship.

Competing interestsThe author declares no competing interests.

Ethical approvalThe research has been approved and performed by relevant guidelines and regulations ofresearch ethics of the country where this research takes place. It involved the human asthe informant in the interview process for collecting the data research. All the infor-mation is provided as confidential and will not be released by the researcher to the thirdparty except required by law.

Informed consentThe researcher confirms that the data research in this article was obtained from all theparticipants and/or their legal guardians under the permission of the local governmentand the schools which involved in the research field.

Additional informationSupplementary information The online version contains supplementary materialavailable at https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01298-y.

Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to Pratiwi Tri Utami.

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