Merdeka Curriculum: Building Students’ Character in Digital Age

Abstrak

The transformation of education in the digital era and Society 5.0 demands a curriculum that not only emphasizes academic achievement, but also the formation of adaptive, critical, and integrated student character. The Independent Curriculum is here as a response to this challenge, by offering a more flexible approach, project-based learning, and strengthening the values of the Pancasila Student Profile. This article aims to examine how the Independent Curriculum contributes to building student character amidst the development of digital technology. The method used is a literature study of 15 accredited national scientific journals published in the last five years. The results of the study show that the implementation of the Independent Curriculum encourages the integration of character education with digital literacy, increases learning independence, and strengthens students' social-emotional skills. However, challenges such as the digital divide, limited teacher competence, and resistance to change still need to be overcome through ongoing training and collaboration between schools, families, and communities. These findings reinforce the urgency of strengthening character as the core of education in the digital era through contextual and transformative curriculum design.