Research on rural English as a Foreign Language (EFL) education in Indonesia has documented resource gaps, uneven technology access, and teachers’ adaptive strategies, yet less attention has been paid to how professional commitment operates within private Islamic senior high schools (Madrasah Aliyah) serving rural communities. This qualitative comparative case study examines two private Madrasah Aliyah in North Minahasa Regency, North Sulawesi. Data were generated through classroom observation, school documents, and in-depth interviews with two principals, two English teachers, and four students, and were analyzed thematically across the two cases. Both schools faced constrained facilities, limited technology, restricted recruitment options, and few opportunities for English use outside the classroom, although the level of resource availability differed between them. Teachers responded through low-cost instructional adaptation, repeated oral practice, motivational support, and individualized scaffolding. The findings indicate that professional commitment did not neutralize resource inequality; rather, it functioned as a pedagogical resource whose enactment was conditioned by the institutional resources available in each school. Student confidence and participation were observed alongside these practices, but the study does not claim causal effects or systematic gains in language proficiency. The study therefore interprets professional commitment as a mediating, not substitutive, factor in sustaining English learning under constraint and argues for simultaneous investment in teacher capacity and equitable learning resources