Jurnal Ilmiah ISLAM FUTURA Vol. 23. No. 1, February 2023, 1-19 * Corresponding author, email: abdulmunimamaly@staidaf.ac.id Citation: Jamaly, Abdul Mun’im, Yayan Herdiana, Uus Ruswandi, and Bambang Syamsul Arifin. “THE NECESSITY AND REALITY OF ISLAMIC RELIGIOUS EDUCATION IN SCHOOLS.” Jurnal Ilmiah Islam Futura 23, no. 1 (2023): 1–19. 10.22373/jiif.v23i1.13190 ©Universitas Islam Negeri Ar-Raniry. All rights reserved. THE NECESSITY AND REALITY OF ISLAMIC RELIGIOUS EDUCATION IN SCHOOLS Abdul Mun’im Amaly Sekolah Tinggi Agama Islam Darul Falah Bandung Barat, Indonesia abdulmunimamaly@staidaf.ac.id Yayan Herdiana Universitas Islam Negeri Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung, Indonesia herdianayayan70@gmail.com Uus Ruswandi Universitas Islam Negeri Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung, Indonesia uusruswandi@uinsgd.ac.id Bambang Syamsul Arifin Universitas Islam Negeri Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung, Indonesia bambangsamsularifin@uinsgd.ac.id Abstract Currently, Islamic religious education (PAI) is experiencing various obstacles due to various factors, and is considered unable to achieve the expected goals of PAI itself, so many criticisms are directed at PAI, this study aims to reveal what is criticized by PAI itself, and what steps should be taken to improve existing constraints, using a qualitative approach and literature study methods the researcher collects from various reliable sources about the problems that occur concerning PAI, the results of this study indicate that the spotlight and criticism of PAI include several aspects, namely PAI learning process is less than optimal, incompetent educators, students who are not pro-active, monotonous learning methods, less varied learning media, and incomplete learning evaluations. These aspects cannot be implemented optimally so that PAI experiences obstacles and setbacks, therefore the improvement and strengthening of these aspects need to be studied to solve problems that occur in PAI. Keywords: Highlights; Improvement; Islamic Religious Education Abstrak Saat ini pendidikan agama Islam (PAI) mengalami berbagai kendala karena berbagai faktor, an dianggap tidak bisa mencapai tujuan yang diharapkan dari PAI itu sendiri, sehingga banyak kritik yang ditujukan terhadap PAI, penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengungkap apa saja yang dikritisi dari PAI itu sendiri, dan langkah apa yang harus dilakukan untuk memberbaiki kendala yang ada, dengan menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif dan metode studi literatur peneliti mengumpulkan dari berbagai sumber terpercaya tentang masalah yang terjadi berkenaan dengan PAI, hasil dari penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa sorotan dan kritik terhadap PAI meliputi beberapa aspek, yaitu proses pembelajaran PAI yang kurang maksimal, pendidik yang kurang berkompeten, peserta didik yang tidak pro