Not Just an Extra Activity: Co-Curricular Programmes Shape Student Character
Based on field data obtained through simple observation methods by PGSD students from Pelita Bangsa University Cikarang at SDIT Darunnajah Alkasani in Bekasi Regency, the school’s co-curricular programme is structured and integrated with the school’s Islamic vision and mission. The school places religious habits as the main daily pillar before intracurricular activities begin. The implementation of the activities runs massively and routinely. Every morning, all students from lower to upper grades are directly accompanied by the board of teachers to perform the Dhuha prayer together, followed by the recitation of dhikr and communal supplication. This activity is not merely a formality to fill empty time but rather an extension of the curriculum aimed at strengthening children’s spirituality from an early age. Through direct observation, it is clearly visible how this activity transforms the school atmosphere into an environment highly conducive to the growth of positive character in children.
If reviewed from the perspective of learning planning in primary schools, the communal Dhuha prayer activity has a very close and comprehensive connection with the elements of formal curriculum planning, including objectives, materials, strategies, character strengthening, assessment, and learning follow-up. The learning objective of this co-curricular activity refers directly to the achievement of spiritual core competencies and social attitudes. The Graduate Competency Standards stipulated in the Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Regulation Number 5 of 2022 affirm that students must possess character that is faithful, pious to God Almighty, and of noble character. The explicit goal of planning the Dhuha prayer is to instil awareness of divinity, train discipline, and accustom students to performing sunnah worship independently in daily life.
This communal Dhuha prayer is a concrete extension of the Islamic Religious Education and Fiqh subject matter taught in the classroom. Theory regarding valid ablution procedures, the pillars of prayer, prayer recitations, and the virtues of sunnah worship, which students usually only read from textbooks, now gets a real application space in the field. Subject matter is no longer abstract in students’ minds but becomes functional knowledge. The school applies a structured habituation and modelling strategy. According to Abdul Majid (2014) in his book on learning planning, effective learning strategies for primary school-aged children must involve direct experience and examples from the surrounding environment. In this context, teachers do not act as passive instructors but participate in purification, straightening the rows, and performing the prayer with the students. This modelling strategy is very effective because primary school-aged children tend to imitate meaningful behaviour from the adults around them.
Values of religiosity, discipline, and responsibility are naturally cultivated when students must manage their arrival time in the morning so as not to miss the congregational worship. The value of independence is also visible when students consciously prepare their own prayer equipment without always having to be instructed. Evaluation of this co-curricular activity does not use traditional written tests but rather authentic non-test assessments in the form of behavioural observation by the class teacher, equipped with observation sheet instruments or a daily journal book (mutabaah yaumiyah). The elements assessed include punctuality of attendance, orderliness during ablution, solemnity in prayer, and compliance in reciting dhikr together.
Through in-depth observation as educators in the field, several significant advantages of this programme were found. The school’s religious atmosphere increased significantly, familiarity among students was well established, and the emotional relationship between teachers and students became warmer because it was built on the foundation of shared worship. Students also appeared calmer and psychologically ready to receive intracurricular learning material after performing the Dhuha prayer. However, implementation in the field is certainly not without obstacles and challenges. The main obstacle most frequently encountered is the limitation of ablution facilities, which are not proportional to the number of students, often triggering long queues that reduce time efficiency. Additionally, maintaining the consistency and solemnity of prayer for primary school-aged children, especially lower grades (grades 1 to 3), is a challenge in itself; some students are still often seen joking or chatting with friends while in the prayer rows.
In the author’s opinion, co-curricular activities such as the daily Dhuha prayer are a highly essential methodological step in the primary education system. This activity proves that character building cannot be achieved through theoretical indoctrination on paper but must be through consistent and repeated real actions. Character is not something merely memorised for an exam but something practised until it becomes a psychological need for the child. Therefore, the assumption that it is an additional activity or a waste of daily time must be immediately dispelled by all education practitioners. To overcome the obstacles and challenges found in the field, the author recommends several practical and applicable solutions that can be implemented in schools. Regarding the limitation of ablution facilities, the school can arrange a rotating arrival or ablution schedule per parallel class or add portable ablution stations around the courtyard area.