Implementing an Environmental Greening Programme to Foster Santri Environmental Care at Pondok Pesantren Al-Fattah Bungo

Abstract

The global ecological crisis demands a concrete response from educational institutions, including Islamic boarding schools (pesantren) as centres of character formation. This study analyses the implementation of an environmental greening programme and how it fosters environmental care among students (santri) at Pondok Pesantren Al-Fattah Bungo, Jambi, Indonesia. A qualitative case study design was employed. Data were collected through participant and non-participant observation, in-depth interviews with 13 informants (the kyai, the environmental coordinator, the teacher of environmental jurisprudence, and senior and junior santri), and documentation, and were analysed using the interactive model of Miles, Huberman, and Saldaña. The programme is implemented through three interlocking dimensions: physical (green open space, tree planting, a waste bank, biogas), curricular (integration of fiqh al-bī'ah into classical-text learning), and cultural (Clean Friday and a zero-waste campaign). Environmental care develops through the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor internalisation of Islamic eco-theological values, shifting santri from an anthropocentric to a religious-ecocentric outlook. The kyai's authority and role modelling, peer groups, and external partnerships support the programme, whereas limited budget and land, the resistance of new santri, and leadership turnover hinder it. Pesantren can thus act as agents of ecological transformation through an ecopedagogy rooted in Islamic eco-theology.