Minister of Tourism: Santri Must Be A Driver of the Nation's Economy

Bangkalan, MINA – Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy/Head of the Tourism and Creative Economy Agency (Menparekraf/Kabaparekraf) Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno stated, students of Islamic Boarding School (Santri) must be able to become the driving force of the nation’s economy, and encourage the creation of 4.4 million jobs, mainly through digitalization.

“This is the background for the presence of the Santri Digitalpreneur Indonesia program as a forum for training and capacity building for students and the millennial generation in dealing with the rapid development of the digital industry,” said Sandiaga Uno at the Santri Digitalpreneur Indonesia activity at the Syaichona Moh Islamic Boarding School. Cholil Bangkalan, Madura, East Java on Friday.

According to him, the participation of students in supporting the development of the tourism sector and the creative economy is considered to be still not optimal. Especially in supporting the presence of halal tourism or halal creative economic products such as Muslim fashion to halal culinary.

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Even though the population of students in Indonesia is quite a lot. Data from the Ministry of Religion for 2022/2023 shows that there are around 5 million female students and female students spread across 39,045 Islamic boarding schools in Indonesia.

“Therefore, I immediately initiated. But if it’s only for coaching in the tourism sector and the creative economy it won’t be very effective. It means that it must be assisted by digitalization. So the Indonesian Digitalpreneur Santri Program was born,” he said.

In the Santri Digitalpreneur Indonesia program, students are equipped with digitalization knowledge with current trends that can improve their abilities and competitiveness. So it is hoped that the students can create videos or creative content that supports the presence of Islamic content wrapped in creative and inspiring values.

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Even though, the Santri Digitalpreneur Indonesia program is only entering its 2nd year, Sandiaga hopes that this program can continue to be sustainable and become a distinct color in the tourism and creative economy sectors.

“Because these students are the future of our nation, students are a national asset, and must participate actively in developing tourism and our creative economy. Hopefully, all of you will become successful entrepreneurs, who will become preachers and creators of quality content,” said Sandiaga.

Apart from Bangkalan Regency, the Santri Digitalpreneur program will be present in selected districts/cities. Among them are South Sulawesi, Jombang, Rembang, Bogor, Cirebon, Purwakarta, Serang, Situbondo and Riau.

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Chairman of Islamic Boarding School Syaichona Moh. Cholil, KH. Muhammad Nasih Aschal expressed his gratitude to the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy and staff who have agreed to carry out Digitalpreneur Santri training activities in Bangkalan Regency, especially at the Syaichona Moh Islamic Boarding School. Cholil.

“We feel that apparently there are also those who see the potential that exists in the pesantren, it turns out that these students are in the spotlight, these students are also a concern. This is not just a training program but activities that can benefit the nation and the state,” he said.(T/RE1/P2)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)