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Indonesia vows reform after 67 confirmed killed in Islamic boarding school collapse
As rescuers end their operations, questions are being asked about the lack of oversight for the over 42,000 such schools in the country
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Indonesia has pledged tighter management of Islamic boarding schools after the tragic collapse of one that killed at least 67 people, with the incident drawing attention to long-standing concerns about the lack of oversight and funding for the country’s vast network of faith-based schools.
The disaster – Indonesia’s deadliest so far this year – occurred on September 29, when a three-storey mosque inside the Al Khoziny Islamic Boarding School complex in Sidoarjo, East Java, caved in during afternoon prayers. More than 150 students, known as santri, were inside at the time.
The latest death toll, confirmed by the national disaster agency BNPB on Tuesday, includes eight sets of body parts recovered from the rubble.
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“This is the largest loss of life this year from a single building. Of all the natural and non-natural disasters that occurred in 2025, none had as many fatalities as this [incident] in Sidoarjo,” Budi Irawan, deputy for emergency management at BNPB, told reporters on Monday.
In Jakarta, President Prabowo Subianto’s administration has vowed to evaluate and enforce construction and building safety in Islamic boarding schools, or pesantren, across the country.
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