Challenges and Strategies for Enhancing Religious Education in the Post COVID 19 Era: Emphasizing the Role of the Family

Religious education has long been a central concern of educational policymakers and practitioners. The present study aims to examine the challenges and strategies for improving and strengthening religious education in the post‑COVID‑19 era, with a particular emphasis on the role of the family. The significance of this research lies in the fact that identifying the challenges in the religious upbringing of children can raise families’ awareness of sound educational practices. By implementing the proposed strategies, it becomes possible to move toward nurturing righteous children, building a monotheistic society, and attaining higher levels of a ḥayāt ṭayyibah (virtuous life). This study was conducted using a library‑based method, employing note‑taking tools within a descriptive–analytical approach. According to the findings, families face several challenges in the field of religious education in the post‑COVID‑19 context, including the suspension of religious ceremonies and closure of sacred places, the widening of communication gaps within family relationships, the weakening of religious and devotional rituals, and the diminishing salience of religious norms. The study also proposes a set of strategies for improving religious education in the post‑COVID‑19 era, such as establishing constructive communication with children, increasing awareness of the role of mass media, drawing on the educational legacy and lived examples of martyrs, promoting a culture of proper use of virtual space, monitoring and guiding children’s online activities, strengthening religious beliefs and convictions, supervising children’s friendships and social relations, fostering effective family–school communication, acquiring media literacy skills for religious education, exercising communicative supervision and control by parents, and enhancing the quality of families’ engagement with virtual environments. The results indicate that, given the extensive impact of COVID‑19 on the lives of people in different societies, paying attention to religious education in the post‑COVID‑19 era and raising families’ awareness of appropriate methods of religious upbringing through the use of virtual space is essential.