Darwis Scholarship Mentoring: Lazismu Mantrijeron Yogyakarta Scholarship Eases and Accompanies the Education of Future Generations

LAZISMU is a national-level zakat institution dedicated to community empowerment through the productive utilisation of zakat, infaq, waqf and other philanthropic funds, whether from individuals, institutions, companies or other agencies. With the enactment of Zakat Law number 23 of 2011, Government Regulation number 14 of 2014, and Decree of the Minister of Religious Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia number 333 of 2015. LAZISMU as a national zakat management institution has been reaffirmed through the Decree of the Minister of Religious Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia number 730 of 2016. Second, zakat is believed to be able to contribute to promoting social justice, human development and alleviating poverty. LAZISMU was established as a zakat management institution with modern management that can make zakat part of the solution to the ever-growing social problems of society.

The Darwis Scholarship Programme is one of the educational work programmes of LAZISMU Mantrijeron that focuses on distributing scholarships to children from elementary school up to senior high school/vocational school and empowering Darwis scholarship children in the city of Yogyakarta. The Darwis Scholarship Programme is a Foster Parent Movement with a non-residential care pattern, packaged in the form of mentoring and assistance with educational costs. In the mentoring sessions held every two (2) weeks, the prayer habits and memorisation of the Darwis students are among the things continually monitored by the mentors (older siblings), in the hope that the Darwis students can grow into a better generation.

In addition, thanks to this mentoring, the kindness of foster parents and donors does not end merely when students receive assistance with educational costs; rather, every good of knowledge and character that grows in the students is a form of charitable investment by the foster parents.

In its mentored Darwis Scholarship programme, LAZISMU Mantrijeron is divided into three areas spread across the City of Yogyakarta. These areas are Mantrijeron, Mergangsan, and the Keraton area. The empowerment activities for the Darwis Scholarship children include receiving an educational mentoring programme, support at each school level, and improvement of the soft skills and hard skills of the mentored students. In addition, the mentored Darwis Scholarship students are given the obligation to submit a mutaba’ah sheet containing a record of obligatory and voluntary prayers. 

LAZISMU Mantrijeron hopes to achieve equitable distribution and an increase in the provision of scholarships to mustahiq every month, but in its development up to now, there are still several problems found in the field, among them:

1. The existence of LAZISMU Mantrijeron has not been maximised or made known to the public.
2. Many people still do not know that LAZISMU Mantrijeron has several programmes for distributing zakat, infaq, and shadaqah funds, one of which is the educational scholarship programme. 
3. The zakat, infaq, and shadaqah (ZIS) funds allocated for scholarships cannot yet meet the educational needs of mustahiq.
4.  LAZISMU Mantrijeron has not been able to accommodate the large number of scholarship applications submitted by mustahiq.

As for the impression during my time as a Darwis Scholarship mentor, it was cultivating my sense of concern  for social and educational problems. Seeing the cheerfulness and enthusiasm on the faces of the mentored students becomes a source of motivation for the mentors to accompany them and share knowledge during the teaching and learning process. In the researcher's opinion, the distribution of Darwis scholarship funds for  education greatly helps students or learners from disadvantaged backgrounds to continue their education like learners in general. 

The education programme at Lazismu aims to improve the quality of Human Resources by running various programmes in the field of education, both in providing facilities and educational costs. Besides carrying out the mandate of the 1945 Constitution to contribute to the intellectual life of the nation, Lazismu's education programme continues to produce human resources with innovation and expertise in their fields to support the development of an outstanding nation, which are created and formed while receiving education in school as well as at university. With a spirit of creativity and innovation, LAZISMU Mantrijeron continually produces empowerment programmes that can answer the challenges of change and the social problems of a developing society.