Welcome to the 2024 Independent Curriculum

The formulation of the 2024 Merdeka Curriculum is very strong as a learning plan that refers to meeting future demands.

Welcome to the 2024 Merdeka Curriculum. Your presence answers operationally the futuristic long-standing dream as represented by the book Opening Our Children's Future: Searching for an Educational Curriculum for the XXI Century (Sindhunata, editor, Kanisius, 2000). The book contains four parts, part one Curriculum; part two Child Development; part three Gender and Pluralism; as well as part four Taste Education.

In part one, Conny Semiawan in his article entitled The Relevance of the Future Education Curriculum emphasized in his first paragraph: "This article does not highlight the technical structure of the curriculum or the general objectives of various curriculum guidelines for each level of education, but discusses more about why the future curriculum requires different insights than the curriculum currently presented.”

Referring to Conny Semiawan's writing, the Merdeka 2024 Curriculum fulfills the demand for relevance. There are two main reasons for this. First, the curriculum is very strong in its formulation as a learning plan that refers to meeting future demands. Second, more specifically, in Chapter II, Section one of the Merdeka 2024 Curriculum, the term "basic curriculum framework" is formulated explicitly as the main foundation in developing the curriculum structure (Article 3 (1)).

Also read: Independent Curriculum Officially Becomes National Curriculum

There are six main foundations for learning design in the 2024 Merdeka Curriculum, namely objectives, principles, learning characteristics, philosophical foundations, sociological foundations and psychopedagogical foundations. Conny Semiawan's dream in 2000 was "answered": curriculum as a learning plan "reflects analysis of the context which includes educational philosophy; content analysis, and analysis of certain target populations (context analysis, content analysis, and target group analysis)”.

The Merdeka 2024 curriculum has a clear design towards the needs of those three analyses; especially refer to Chapter III Implementation of the Merdeka Curriculum, and Annex I, Annex II, and Annex III, which are always referred to as "integral parts of this ministerial regulation".

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Support for educational units implementing the Independent Curriculum independently starting July 2022.

Futuristic operations

Honestly, Permendikbudristek Number 12 of 2024 concerning Curriculum for Early Childhood Education, Basic Education Levels and Secondary Education Levels deserves a thumbs up. There are two concrete reasons, namely that this curriculum is operationally futuristic and completely detailed for the context of early childhood education, primary education levels and secondary education levels.

How fortunate (and greatly assisted) the new minister in the future cabinet would be, like a puppet master, they can play their optimal role on stage because everything has been prepared completely.

As mentioned above, Chapter III of the 2024 Merdeka Curriculum can be a good example of how the mastermind lives "mara Trace" (Java), or like a driver lives "mancal", because everything in detail is available. In the first part (consisting of Articles 25, 26, 27, and 28) it is clearly and in detail who is responsible for implementing the Independent Curriculum.

It is explicitly stated that "mid-level officials" are responsible for six substantial and implementable activities, starting from providing implementation guidelines for the curriculum to regular monitoring and evaluation (Article 25). Out of those six substantial and implementable activities, four involve providing activities such as guidelines, main textbooks, teaching tools, learning resources, and training; the remaining two activities involve advocacy, mentoring, and monitoring and evaluation.

There are two concrete reasons, namely that this curriculum is operationally futuristic and detailed for the context of early childhood education, primary education, and secondary education.

The responsibility of local governments in implementing the Independent Curriculum must focus on the responsibility for compiling and determining local content and its facilitation. Meanwhile, the responsibility of the education unit must focus on (a) developing and establishing the education unit curriculum referring to the basic framework and curriculum structure that has been determined by the ministry, (b) providing inclusive services, (c) reflecting, evaluating and improving curriculum implementation, and (d) play an active role in the learning community.

In the second part, the main responsibility of educational institutions is to develop a curriculum that at least includes and emphasizes the characteristics of the school, the school's vision, mission, and goals, the organization of learning, as well as the planning of learning in that school. Efforts to develop the curriculum are carried out in a diversified manner in accordance with the potential of the region and the potential and conditions of the students.

The three attachments in the 2024 Merdeka Curriculum, which are said to be an inseparable part of the ministerial regulations, show even more clearly—quoting Conny Semiawan's writing—what is, what could, and what shouldof the curriculum: what it is, what can and should be attempted, and how to achieve ideal conditions.

In its first appendix, the characteristics of the Merdeka Curriculum's learning process are clearly explained. These include (i) utilizing assessment throughout the beginning, process, and end of learning to first understand the needs and development of students' learning processes, (ii) making adjustments to the learning process after understanding these needs, (iii) prioritizing attention on each student's learning progress rather than the coverage and achievement of curriculum requirements, and (iv) all of this is done collaboratively between educators.

Is there anything missing?

It is widely heard that the 2024 Merdeka Curriculum omits a number of "obligatory/important things", especially those related to scouting and religious education. It's not like what has been heard or echoed so far because nothing has been removed; the reason that exists/occurs is, call it relocation. Regarding scouting, for example, see appendix III Extracurricular Development, under sub-section B Types and Formats of extracurricular activities which are divided into five types, namely krida, scientific work, talent and interest training, religious, and other forms of activities.

Also read: "Encounter Pedagogy" in the Independent Curriculum

Scouting activities have been relocated to various types of extracurricular activities, including student leadership training (LKS), youth Red Cross (PMR), school health efforts (UKS), flag raising teams (Paskibra), and others. These various extracurricular activities can be carried out individually, in groups, in a classical format, combined, or in the field according to the potential of each educational unit.

Meanwhile, religious extracurricular activities are described as including but not limited to, intensive Islamic boarding schools, religious lectures, Quranic reading and writing, retreats, and others. All extracurricular learning implemented in education units aims to improve the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor abilities of students, as well as to develop their talents, interests, and potential in personal development efforts toward becoming complete human beings.

JC Tukiman Taruna, Postgraduate Lecturer at Soegijapranata Catholic University Semarang and UNS Surakarta

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JC Tukiman Taruna