Small-Group-Based Quran Recitation Mentoring to Strengthen Religious Education for Indonesian Children at Sanggar El Shaddai, Malaysia

Abstrak

Indonesian children living abroad may face challenges in accessing continuous religious education, particularly Qur’anic learning, due to limited learning resources and differences in learners’ initial abilities. This situation was also observed at Sanggar El Shaddai in Klang, Malaysia, where children demonstrated varying levels of Qur’anic reading proficiency, ranging from basic Iqra’ learning to the need for improvement in pronunciation, tajwid, and reading fluency. This community engagement program aimed to implement and describe small-group Qur’anic learning support tailored to the participants’ initial abilities and to identify observable progress during the mentoring process. The program was conducted as part of the International Community Service Program (KKN Internasional) of Universitas Sains Al-Qur’an from June 2 to 29, 2026, involving 15 children aged 4–12 years. Participants were divided into small groups of approximately 5–7 children based on their initial abilities. The mentoring activities included talaqqi, tahsin, murojaah, memorization of short surahs, guided reading practice, and periodic reading evaluations. Data were collected through participatory observation, semi-structured interviews with 10 informants, documentation, and observations of the participants’ reading development. The results indicated positive observable developments in reading fluency, pronunciation accuracy, basic application of tajwid, confidence in reading aloud, and participation in learning activities. However, the degree of improvement varied among participants depending on their initial abilities and individual- ’ learning needs. These findings suggest that small-group, ability-based Qur’anic mentoring can serve as an adaptive, community-based approach to strengthening religious education services for Indonesian children in diaspora communities.