Beyond Attendance Lists: Standardizing Facilitator Evaluation and Competence to Eradicate the Stigma of Marriage Counseling Formality

Abstract

The issue of low awareness among prospective brides and grooms regarding the Marriage Guidance program stems from weak regulatory enforcement due to the lack of facilitator competency standards and standardized evaluation instruments at the Office of Religious Affairs. This situation has given rise to a phenomenon of lax service delivery, perpetuating the negative perception in society that this family resilience program is merely an administrative formality for fulfilling marriage documents. This policy study aims to formulate a strategy for restructuring the premarital guidance system by strengthening legal aspects, counselor competency, and standardizing national assessment instruments. This analysis uses a qualitative methodology with a descriptive-analytical study approach and secondary legal document analysis, which are then comprehensively dissected using William N. Dunn's alternative policy scoring criteria. The analysis shows that the lack of objective measurement tools triggers bias in facilitator assessments and allows legal loopholes in the independent guidance scheme to be abused by participants for instant convenience. In conclusion, combining aspects of tightening legal regulations with flexibility in fulfilling obligations is the most rational solution to end the long cycle of stigma associated with this paperwork formality. Therefore, it is recommended to the Director General of Islamic Community Guidance to immediately issue a Director General Decree mandating the implementation of integrated national competency-based digital assessment standards (digital post-test) with the determination of a passing grade threshold.