Ro’an and Environmental Character Formation in Pesantren

A Mixed-Methods Study of Students’ Environmental Responsibility

Abstract

Declining public engagement with environmental issues highlights the need for educational approaches that cultivate environmental responsibility through sustained, contextually embedded practices. This study investigates the role of Ro’an, a collective cleaning tradition in pesantren, in shaping the environmental care character of students at Pondok Pesantren Darul Ma’arif Kaplongan, Indramayu, Indonesia. A mixed-methods design was employed, with a quantitative survey as the primary strand and qualitative observation and documentation as supporting evidence. Survey data were collected from 214 male residential students and analyzed using simple linear regression, t-testing, and the coefficient of determination (R²). The findings indicate that both the implementation of Ro’an and students’ environmental care character were at a good level. More importantly, Ro’an demonstrated a positive and statistically significant association with environmental care character, as evidenced by the regression coefficient (β = 0.611), t = 9.132, and p < 0.001. The model explained 28.2% of the variance in students’ environmental care character (R² = 0.282), indicating a meaningful but non-exclusive contribution of the tradition to environmental character formation. These findings suggest that Ro’an should be understood not merely as a routine cleaning activity but as a form of habituated character education that connects collective religious life with environmental responsibility. The study contributes to Islamic education research by demonstrating how indigenous pesantren practices can function as informal pedagogical mechanisms for environmental character formation. Practically, pesantren administrators should institutionalize Ro’an through systematic scheduling, participation, supervision, and reflective reinforcement, while future research should examine complementary determinants, including educator role modelling, family background, institutional culture, and students’ environmental knowledge.