Rangkang dalam Lintasan Sejarah Pendidikan Aceh: Eksistensi dan Transformasi Kelembagaan

Abstract

Rangkang is one of the significant institutions within the traditional Islamic educational system in Aceh and should ideally be recognized as an integral part of the historical development of Islamic education and the formation of the region's scholarly tradition. However, existing studies have paid limited attention to rangkang, often treating it merely as a complementary element of dayah education. Consequently, its institutional existence, historical transformation, and contemporary educational relevance remain insufficiently explored. This study aims to examine the genealogy of rangkang, its institutional structure, its historical transformation, and the relevance of its educational values to contemporary Islamic education. This research employs a qualitative library research approach using the historical method, encompassing heuristics, source criticism, interpretation, and historiography. The findings reveal that rangkang functioned as a strategic educational institution integrating the transmission of Islamic knowledge, character formation, and moral cultivation. Despite experiencing institutional transformation due to colonialism, educational modernization, and the national education system, rangkang has preserved its core values of scholarship, discipline, brotherhood, independence, and spirituality, making it a relevant model for developing Islamic education grounded in local wisdom in the contemporary era.