Reorientasi Pendidikan Agama Islam di Sekolah IndonesiaDari Hafalan Menuju Penghayatan Nilai dalam Konteks Kurikulum Merdeka

Abstract

Islamic Religious Education (Pendidikan Agama Islam, PAI) in Indonesian schools is still predominantly oriented toward rote memorization, emphasizing cognitive mastery of religious texts while giving limited attention to value internalization, moral awareness, and character formation. Numerous studies indicate a persistent gap between students’ religious knowledge and their actual religious attitudes and social behavior. This article aims to conceptually examine the need to reorient Islamic Religious Education from a memorization-based approach toward value internalization within the framework of the Merdeka Curriculum. This study employs a qualitative approach through library research, utilizing thematic content analysis of Islamic education literature, national curriculum policies, and relevant empirical studies. The findings reveal that value-oriented Islamic Religious Education requires the integration of cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains through contextual, reflective, and dialogical learning approaches. Furthermore, the role of Islamic education teachers must shift from mere transmitters of knowledge to facilitators and role models of values. This article argues that reorienting Islamic Religious Education toward value internalization is a strategic necessity to enhance the relevance of religious education to Indonesia’s socio-cultural challenges and to strengthen students’ moral and spiritual character development