The Erosion of Islamic Boarding School Values: A Case Study of Environmental and Digital Influences on the Behavior of Students at the Al Imtiyaz Putra Islamic Boarding School, Ngawi

Abstract

Islamic boarding schools (pesantren) have historically functioned as comprehensive character-formation institutions. However, in the contemporary era, they face serious threats from the erosion of their core values due to external social pressures and the massive infiltration of digital technology. This study aims to describe and analyze the forms of value erosion among students (santri) at Pesantren Al-Imtiyaz Putra Ngawi, identify the contributing factors, and examine the institution's adaptive responses to this phenomenon. Employing a qualitative approach with a single case study design, data were collected through in-depth interviews with 14 informants, participatory observation, and document analysis over a period of six months (February–July 2025). Findings reveal five interrelated forms of value erosion: weakening of adab and ta'dzim toward religious authorities, declining commitment to religious practices, infiltration of popular culture and non-Islamic identity imitation, diminishing engagement with classical Islamic texts (kitab kuning), and growing individualism that erodes communal values. These forms of erosion are driven by two synergistic factors: external socio-environmental pressures and the pervasive impact of digitalization through FOMO, moral disengagement, and habitus dislocation. In response, the pesantren has developed four adaptive strategies: intensifying personal mentorship by the kiai, implementing an Islamic-based digital literacy curriculum, revitalizing the internal social ecosystem, and establishing peer-based monitoring by senior students. These findings contribute an integrative analytical framework drawing on Bourdieu's habitus theory, Bandura's moral disengagement, and social identity theory to understand value erosion as a simultaneous structural and agentic process.