Management Perspective)

Yaqin. Abstract Religious character is one of the characters that needs to be developed in the students to cultivate behavior that is in accordance with the teachings of Islam which based on the Qur'an and Hadith. This study aim to describe the teacher's role in improving the religious character of the students of Nurul Yaqin Elementary School. The method used in this research is a qualitative method with the type of field research. The subjects in this study were principals, teachers, parents, and students of Nurul Yaqin Elementary School. Data was collected through observation, interviews, and documentation. The data were analyzed using the stages of data collection, data reduction, data presentation, and drawing conclusions. Then the validity of the data is carried out using the triangulation technique. The results showed that the teacher's role in improving the religious character of students at Nurul Yaqin Elementary School was the teacher as an educator and a role model for students, which collaborating with students' parents. As educators, teachers always teach students to behave in accordance with the teachings of Islam. As an example, through their behavior and actions the teachers reflects on religious values as part of their life. Collaborating with the parents is needed because when students are at home, parents are fully responsible to encourage the religious character of their


INTRODUCTION
Until now, the COVID-19 pandemic is still engulfing almost all parts of the world, including Indonesia. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is evenly distributed across all sectors of life, including the education sector. However, the transformation of education must continue to be carried out, even during the Covid-19 pandemic, which has not yet ended. To avoid the transmission and spread of COVID-19, the learning process is carried out from home or through Distance Learning (PJJ). In accordance with the Circular of the Ministry of Education and Culture No. 4 of 2019 it is referred that the learning process is carried out at home via online. In practice, learning is carried out using an online system, offline, and a combination of online and offline. Offline means that learning is carried out with a direct assignment system.
Online learning means all learning systems through the internet network (Fauziyah, 2020). Online learning is learning that uses the internet network with accessibility, connectivity, flexibility, and the ability to bring up various types of learning interactions (Sadikin et al., 2020). Online learning requires distance telecommunication facilities such as internet network access and hardware. Hardware in the form of computers, laptops, or gadgets. Devices that are easy and friendly to use are gadgets. Apart from being easy to operate, the device is also a natural necessity in this technological era. Not only the needs of parents, but also the needs of children. Seeing this reality, gadgets are an alternative that can be used as a means of distance learning for students (Purwanti, 2021).
Learning activities are usually carried out in schools by meeting face to face and meeting directly with teachers and being able to meet and play with other students, now it has changed completely with distance learning which cannot meet face to face with teachers and play with other students. Learning is carried out only with the help of electronic media, the teacher delivers the material and students receive the material and assignments. Communication between teachers and students is limited. However, not interacting directly with the teacher can lead to a less obedient attitude of students towards the teacher (Suriadi et al., 2021). This certainly affects the character of students (Roziqin et al., 2021). The picture of student character is often seen through students' indifference to the teacher during learning such as speaking impolitely, the number of cases of bullying, also drug abuse in elementary school students (Puteri, Sulistyani et al., 2021).
If observed in the surrounding environment, the state of the religious character of the children around us is very concerning (Hawari et al., 2020). This fact is seen in the weakening of honest and disciplined behavior (Habibah & Wahyuni, 2020). We still often encounter dishonest behavior such as corruption, bribery, and so on (Auliyairrahmah et al., 2021). The moral crisis of children shows that the cultivation of character education really needs to be improved. One of the causes of moral decline is the lack of application material about character and the lack of attention from teachers as educators in terms of character building of students, so that students focus more on cognitive aspects and pay less attention to affective aspects in learning (Arina, 2016).
Jannah & Selatan (2019) also said that the religious character in society is currently experiencing a decline, this can be seen from the frequent occurrence of violence, pornography, brawls, and so on. For this reason, character education is used as one of the educational programs that must be implemented in formal education at all levels of education. And strengthening character education is the foundation for giving birth to young generations of integrity (Retnasari & Sumaryati, 2021). Character education is the most important thing that we must teach students at any level, especially for elementary school students (Pertiwi et al., 2021). In the perspective of Islam, educating children's character must be considered. Every parent is obliged to provide proper education, both formally and non-formally, especially about moral education and how to give advice to children so that children always behave politely in everyday life, both in the family and the surrounding community (Hawari et al., 2020).
Character education is an embodiment in achieving a generation that is intelligent and capable of having morals and personalities that are useful for the Indonesian nation (Suriadi et al., 2021). With the implementation of character education, it is hoped that the goals of national education can make students become human beings who believe, are pious, have noble character, are creative, capable, and others can be realized. Gefilia & Idyawati (2021) said that Distance Learning (PJJ) is one of the strategies in the law that was implemented during the Covid-19 pandemic and aims to ensure the fulfillment of students' learning rights in this emergency situation, including improving the religious character of students. Religious character can be interpreted as obedient attitudes and behavior in carrying out religious teachings which are the basis for the realization of a peaceful life. Thus, the process of religious character education or moral education must of course be seen as a conscious and planned effort, not a business that occurs by chance (Muhammad Mushfi El Iq Bali, 2019).
Religious value is a form of human relationship with its creator through religious teachings that have been internalized in a person and are reflected in their daily attitudes and behavior (M. Jannah & Selatan, 2019). Internalization of religious character is an effort to explore religious values so that they are embedded in every human being so that it gives birth to someone who has character and character according to religious teachings. To be able to make students into children with noble character, guidance, direction, and the role of a teacher are needed as one of the main human resources in schools (Khoiruddin & Sholekah, 2019). Human resources are one of the most important factors that cannot even be separated from an organization. Human resources employed in an organization serve as movers and thinkers, (Sutiawan & Fauzan, 2021).
Schools as an educational organization, where most of the duties of teachers as human resources in schools are to educate by teaching, giving a good example, motivation, praise, encouragement, and others that are expected to have a positive influence on students' maturation. In general, teaching is only part of the task of educating. Thus, through their behavior and actions the teachers must be able to affirm and reflect religious values as part of their life. Educators must carefully criticize the changes in the value by ordering, filtering and applying new values by internalizing them in the world of education (Muhammad Mushfi El Iq Bali, 2019).
Teachers have many roles that must be done in the learning process. The teacher's role can also refer to the teacher's duties such as guiding, assessing, teaching, and educating (Siti Maemanawati, 2020). A wise educator of course continues to strive to be more effective and efficient by applying the basics of education that affect children mentally, morally, spiritually, scientifically, and children's social ethos, so that children can reach perfect maturity, have broad insight and integral personality. Educating children to become devout Muslims is actually very difficult, especially living in the current era, which an era where children and their parents tend to imitate a culture that is no longer Islamic (Is, 2017).
The role of a suitable teacher for character education is the teacher which can be a role model (Buan, 2021). Exemplary in education is the most influential method and has proven to be the most successful in preparing and shaping the moral, spiritual, and social ethos of students. Considering that educators are the best figures in the eyes of students, whose personality and manners will be imitated by students. Even the form of words, actions, and personality of the teacher will always be embedded in the personality of the students as the Prophet became a role model for his people (Is, 2017). Teachers as role models can be seen from three aspects, namely attitudes, words, and actions. Where these three aspects must exist in every human being and are interrelated with each other. However, the aspect of action must be highlighted in the example of a teacher, because in action it is possible that there are aspects of attitude and words. Teachers show good examples to students by diligently worshiping, helping others, being responsible, disciplined, honest, polite, and not doing things that are inappropriate for a teacher.
Increasing religious character is actually not only the responsibility of the teacher, but also the responsibility of the parents, even when at home the parents are fully responsible for improving the religious character of their children. In Islamic law, parents, in this case, mothers are the first and main educators for . Character education will run effectively and intact if it involves three institutions, such as family, school, and community (Syarbini, 2014). Character education will not work well if one of these institutions is ignored, especially the family. Informal education in the family has an important role in the process of forming one's character. This is because the family is an environment where children grow and develop from an early age to adulthood. It is through family education that the character of a child is formed, for that the garu must always cooperate with the parents of students in the formation of the religious character of students.
Purandina & I Made Astra Winaya (2020) say that character is strongly influenced by the environment in which this individual develops. Although character can also be influenced by innate factors, but it is a very small percentage. A child who grows and develops in a good moral environment will certainly be a child who has good morals, and vice versa.
In forming good morals and obedient worship, it takes a process that is not easy, it is not enough through lessons or material delivered in class. One way that can be done is through the habituation process. With this habit, it is hoped that akhlaqul karimah and obedient students can worship the Almighty (Khoiruddin & Sholekah, 2019). Especially for schools, the teacher is a figure whose role is to provide direction and guidance in improving the religious character of students. Of course, it would be easy if the conditions allowed between teachers and students face to face, so that the teacher could immediately provide direction or correct the deviant character of students.
Increasing the religious character of students can be conditioned by teachers at school and parents at home, as well as in the surrounding community. But the ones who have the most role here are of course teachers and parents. Teachers and parents have a vital role in the formation of children's character (Yeni Wulandari, 2017). Teachers and parents must provide or condition a fertile container as a place for seeding character values which can later form good moral behavior. By inculcating religious character education, it is expected to be able to trigger obedient attitudes and behaviors of children in carrying out Islamic teachings, being tolerant of worshiping other religions, and living in harmony with adherents of other religions (N. R. Jannah et al., 2021).

METHOD
This research is a case study with a qualitative approach that focused on the role of the teacher in improving the religious character of the Nurul Yaqin Elementary School students. This study intends to describe the teacher's role in improving the religious character of the Nurul Yaqin Elementary School students. The approach used in this research is a phenomenological approach which aims to find or find the meaning of the things that are essential or fundamental from the experience.
Participants in this study were principals, teachers, parents, and students of SD Nurul Yaqin. The instruments in this study were the researchers themselves, researchers conducted interviews with school principals, teachers, parents, and students of SD Nurul Yaqin using interview guidelines, researchers directly observed learning activities at SD Nurul Yaqin using observation guidelines, and researchers made direct observations of documents. The required documents for SD Nurul Yaqin based on the documentation guidelines. As a guideline to make it easier to obtain data, the researchers compiled a grid of research instruments as shown in table 1 below. Data analysis in this study uses an interactive model from Sugiyono (2018) as shown in the image below: Figure 1. Interactive analysis model Activities in qualitative data analysis are carried out interactively and take place continuously, so that the data is saturated. Data analysis was carried out through data collection, data simplification, data presentation, and drawing conclusions. The data obtained in the field are summarized, selected the main ones, and focused on the things that are important. The data is presented systematically to make it easier to understand in its entirety and thoroughly between its parts, thus providing the possibility for drawing conclusions/verification. Conclusion drawing/verification cannot be separated from the phenomenon of the problem being studied.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
SD Nurul Yaqin is an Islamic-based private school located in Rawa Medang Village, Batang Asam District, West Tanjung Jabung Regency, Jambi Province. The students who study at SD Nurul Yaqin come from different backgrounds, of course the character of each student is also different, some have good characters, and some have bad characters. This cannot be separated from the influence of the environment in which they live. Even though students come from various backgrounds, the character possessed by students in general can be said to be quite good, easy to regulate and control with the regulations that apply at school, this is evidenced by the fact that there are rarely students who violate school rules or regulations.
During this covid period, learning activities are carried out using Distance Learning (PJJ), where there is no direct interaction face to face as usual. However, during the covid period or not, schools are responsible for student education, especially in shaping the religious character of students. This obligation is not only borne by the homeroom teacher, but also applies to all stakeholders in the school. The teacher educates students through a means that is connected to the internet, through assignments that are taken directly by students at school and collected back based on the scheduled time. Recently, learning has also been carried out through face-to-face activities with a limited number of people following the health protocol.
The existence of the covid-19 outbreak is not an obstacle for schools to continue to educate students, especially in an effort to improve the religious character of students. Character education is the main point that is the focus of SD Nurul Yakin in the implementation of learning, this can be seen from the school's vision, namely "forming human beings who have good character and have the spirit of nationalism".
Furthermore, it is also said that character education is the first focus of attention for this school, because it is to follow and realize one of the main apostolic missions of the Prophet Muhammad SAW, namely to perfect human character (R1). This is in line with the opinion Ahsanulkhaq (2019) that religious character is one of the characters that needs to be developed in students to cultivate behavior in accordance with the teachings of Islam which is based on the Qur'an and Hadith.
Based on the results of research at SD Nurul Yaqin, information was obtained that "the teacher acts as an educator in an effort to improve the religious character of students, the teacher educates or teaches students about good values and behavior in accordance with the guidance or teachings of Islam such as teaching students to worship obediently, tell the truth, be polite, behave well, be responsible, and care for others (R2). This is in line with the opinion of Onde et al., (2020) that teachers are the spearhead of education where interactions that occur between students and teachers allow students to absorb subject matter to the maximum in accordance with the teacher's expectations, namely being able to understand and implement the character education being taught.
Apart from being an educator, in improving the religious characteristics of students, teachers also act as role models or examples that can be imitated or imitated by students in students' daily lives, for that the teacher must always behave well (R3). This opinion is in line with what Buan (2021) said that the role of a suitable teacher for character education is as an example. However, the aspect of action should be emphasized more in the example of a teacher, because in action it is possible that there are aspects of attitude and words. Teachers must always show good examples to students by being polite, diligent in worshiping, helping others, being responsible, disciplined, honest, and always doing good deeds. Given that educators are good figures in the eyes of students.
Furthermore, it is also said that in an effort to improve the religious character of students, it is also necessary to cooperate between teachers and parents at home, because teachers also have limited time with children, teachers and students are only in a few hours, then students and their parents each at home or around the family environment. And when the student is at home or in the family environment, it is the parents who are obliged to look after and supervise the child (R4). The parents do at home in improving the religious 4312 Student's Religious Character (Viewed From the Human Resource Management Perspective) -Ahmad Ansori, Husarida, Hasirah DOI : https://doi.org/10.31004/edukatif.v4i3.2737 Edukatif : Jurnal Ilmu Pendidikan Vol 4 No 3 Tahun 2022 p-ISSN 2656-8063 e-ISSN 2656-8071 character of their children is to make habits for children to always pray on time, help parents work, be obedient and respectful to parents, be responsible and honest (R5). The opinion above is also in line with what Fatimah & Antika (2021) said that good education from parents will form good adolescent character as well, adolescent character development can be controlled and shaped with parental guidance and assistance. Character education can be maximized if it is supported by the family because parents are the main locomotive in planting character education in children (Maria et al., 2021). Then it was said by Dewi et al., (2021) that the character of the nation can be developed in each individual citizen through the family environment and school environment. Furthermore, by Muhammad Mushfi El Iq Bali (2019) that habituation is a practical effort in fostering and forming student character. This effort is made considering that humans are forgetful and weak. Faith in the heart is dynamic in the sense that it always experiences instability which is in line with influences from outside and from within a person. At first a person finds it difficult to get used to good deeds so he feels burdened. Someone who is used to doing certain actions will feel no longer burdened if they are done with perseverance and patience. Furthermore, Syahrul Sitorus, Delvi Andriadi, Syarah Juwita, (2020) also stated that increasing religious character is actually not only the responsibility of the teacher, but also the responsibility of parents, even when at home parents are fully responsible for improving the religious character of their children. In Islamic law, parents, in this case the mother is the first and main educator for their children, this term is known as al ummu madrasatul ula. Home is a school for children.
In addition to the role of teachers described above, in an effort to improve the religious character of students, schools also strongly support the efforts or roles carried out by teachers, this support is shown in a school religious program. In the religious program there are activities that can grow, shape, foster, and increase the religious values of students. Religious values that are more emphasized are on morals and worship. The subjects taught by the school, in addition to the general subjects that are required, are also added to religious subjects such as Al-Quran Hadith, Akidah Akhlak, Nahwu, Tajweed, Iqro', Arabic, and Prayer.
Furthermore, the school also applies a good culture, which of course this culture will have an influence both directly and indirectly on the religious character of students. The implementation and habituation stages are mainly related to morals and worship, which are carried out from the time students come to school until students leave school. Schools familiarize students with greetings when meeting with friends and teachers, praying together, working together, etc. Schools make regulations which are the first aspect in an effort to create a conducive school environment as stated in the school rules that contain student rights, obligations, sanctions, and rewards. Enforcement of regulations emphasizes students to proceed first, so that they are accustomed and then all forms of rules can be implemented and obeyed.

CONCLUSION
Improving the religious character of students can be done through optimizing the role of teachers in schools and parents in the family environment at home. The teacher's role in improving the religious character of students is as an educator and as an example for students. As educators, teachers must always educate children to become children with religious character or good morals. As an example, the teacher must be a good example and can be imitated and followed by students, both in behavior, attitude, and words. In improving the religious character of students, teachers must also work with parents, because when students are in the family environment at home, it is parents who play a role in fostering the religious character of students.