The appointment of Nadiem Makarim as Minister of Education and Culture (Kemendikbud) in President Joko Widodo’s “Indonesia Maju” Cabinet (2019–2024) came as a bit of a surprise to the public. This is because Nadiem had never previously been involved in or built a career in education management.

Instead, Nadiem has primarily been active in the economic and digital business sectors. In fact, in his most recent role before being appointed as minister, Nadiem served as CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of an online transportation startup he founded himself.

He quickly addressed the public’s skepticism by immediately implementing various bold initiatives and responsive policies. Given that we are currently—and will continue to be—confronted with the era of Industry 4.0, individuals possessing creative, adaptive, and strong character traits are undoubtedly essential. Consequently, the focus of the policies he has formulated aligns with this theme.

One of the flagship policies initiated by the Minister of Education and Culture (Nadiem Makarim) concerns strengthening character education as a key component of the education system. This is not merely based on his personal ideas but also reflects an interpretation of the president’s vision and mission, which similarly prioritizes the development of Indonesia’s human resources.

5 Key Policies of Education and Culture Minister Nadiem Makarim

There are at least five key policies that the Minister of Education and Culture is focusing on implementing, namely:

1. Character education based on Pancasila;

2. Deregulation and debureaucratization to accelerate the implementation of strategic policies;

3. Increasing investment and innovation;

4. Job creation by strengthening innovative and job-oriented vocational and training education;

5. Empowerment and equitable access to technology across all educational institutions throughout Indonesia.

Through the five strategic programs above, it is evident that there is a desire to shift the paradigm of educational institutions from “how to produce a workforce” to “how to create jobs.”

This is an ideal concept for building a competitive, excellent, independent, and character-driven workforce.

Character Education and the Practice of Pancasila as Key Assets in Preparing for Industry 4.0

In this discussion, we will focus on the first policy, namely the strengthening of character education. Strengthening character education and the practice of Pancasila are believed to be aspects that must be prioritized because they relate to the fundamental nature of every individual.

Especially with the rapid modernization and changes taking place today, every young person must possess strong character to avoid falling into moral decay and ultimately developing traits and character that are contrary to the nation’s values of character and morality. “First and foremost, character education is the most important thing.

Given the significant role of technology today, if young people lack character, integrity, and the ability to critically analyze information, they will be overwhelmed by various forms of misinformation," said Nadiem Makarim, as quoted from Ratna Puspita’s article on republika.co.id.

Character education itself, according to Hamid and Saebani (2013), is moral education that involves the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains. Character education touches on the deep elements of knowledge, feelings, and actions. Character education unites these three elements.

Ramli (2003) also explains that character education, at its core, shares the same roots as moral and ethical education. This is also what the Minister of Education and Culture (Nadiem Makarim) has stated: that the essence of character education is universal morality, or what is referred to in religious terms as akhlak.

“What is morality? Morality is the fundamental principles of life, the fundamental principles of how to interact with fellow human beings, and the fundamental principles of how to interact between organizations or institutions,” said Nadiem Makarim, as quoted from an article by Larasati Dyah Utami (Tribunnews reporter).

Nadiem explained that character education, which is grounded in Pancasila, has so far been represented merely as a method of memorizing the principles of Pancasila, but has been lacking in practice and application.

In fact, according to him, the crucial aspect of character education is how an educator can provide and demonstrate concrete examples of the character values already present in Pancasila within learning activities.

This aligns with the view of John W. Santrock in his work “Essential Psychology (2009),” which states that character education is an educational approach that directly engages students to instill moral values and teach them about moral knowledge in an effort to prevent prohibited behaviors.

Therefore, in order to achieve goals that align with these values, teachers, as educators, need to instill character-building values—drawn from religious education and, of course, the Pancasila ideology as the foundation of this nation’s moral character—in a practical and contextually relevant manner.

The actualization of these values, of course, is not limited to the elementary school (SD) level but continues all the way through higher education. This requires the involvement of all stakeholders in the implementation of character education. There needs to be openness and participation from parents, the government, and, of course, the community.

Children and students must be actively involved in community activities and social entrepreneurship so that their social spirit and character values can grow naturally and constructively. This can be achieved through various subject programs and applied learning practices that are, of course, aligned with the curriculum and learning objectives.

ECOMSTER as an Ideal Concept for Developing Adaptable and Principled Human Resources

The overarching vision for developing human resources with a competitive spirit and strong character in the Industry 4.0 era was actually presented by Nadiem Makarim before he took office as minister, specifically at a seminar titled “Developing Indonesia’s Human Resources Toward a Digital Economy” in November 2019 in Bali.

He emphasized the need for investment in cultivating human resources who are creative, innovative, adaptable, and of strong character. According to him, the challenges ahead are no longer confined to the local level but have reached a global scale.

Consequently, science and technology will develop rapidly and dynamically, and there will be significant disruptive innovations across all fields, including education. On this occasion, Nadiem presented the concept of ECOMSTER (English, Coding, Mentoring, Statistics, and Character) to produce the desired human resources. The fields mentioned above will serve as a framework for the implementation of education and learning if this concept is eventually realized.

1. “English”

Regarding “English,” this refers to the proficiency in English that every Indonesian child must possess, given that all communication and interactions in professional settings currently take place in English. This is because we are in the era of the free market, where everything is interconnected without boundaries.

2. “Coding”

“Coding” refers to the idea that there should be a subject on coding and programming, as expertise in application and software development is currently in high demand given that we are in the Industry 4.0 era, where everything and every activity is centered on and oriented toward the IoT (Internet of Things).

With coding skills, it will certainly strengthen critical and creative thinking in children and, beyond that, can open new opportunities for the establishment of startups, innovations, and new digital ecosystems that will help strengthen the nation’s economy and technological progress.

3. “Mentoring”

“Mentoring” refers to how our young people and students can gain knowledge, practical training, and guidance from experts, specialists, and professionals across various fields—both nationally and globally. This is what Nadiem refers to as “Brain Drain The World to Indonesia.” The goal is simply to ensure our children acquire knowledge and skills that align with the needs of the business and industrial sectors.

4. “Statistics”

Regarding “Statistics,” it is also a crucial component in today’s digital and “Big Data” era, as statistics pertains to research methods—specifically, the process of data collection, data processing, and drawing conclusions based on data that has been critically and systematically analyzed.

This process shares similarities with the concept of HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skills), which refers to the ability to think at a higher level—a skill applied in the creation of current school exercises that require students to comprehensively analyze and synthesize each problem and question.

In today’s era, all important decisions depend on processed and analyzed data; naturally, for this process to proceed, it requires competent experts and specialists in the fields of statistics and data analysis.

5. “Character”

The final component is the importance of character education, which is a crucial element because it relates to morals, ethics, and mindset. This initiative begins by introducing psychology courses at the high school level. According to Nadiem, studying psychology will help build the mental resilience of Indonesian children, making them more credible, responsible, and of good character.

Character education is a priority for Nadiem Makarim (Minister of Education and Culture) because the character education in question is not limited to cognitive and mental aspects but also encompasses ethics and morality.

Therefore, according to Nadiem, the application of moral and ethical values rooted in Pancasila should not merely be incorporated into the curriculum—to be read and memorized as mere theory—but must be genuinely applied in academic activities and broader societal contexts.

“We cannot possibly learn these values unless they are implemented through character education activities. Furthermore, character education must involve families and the community. So, one of the initiatives I will launch is how to integrate character education directly into the community and incorporate contemporary content, so that the public understands what morality, civil society, and ethics are through real-life examples, not just philosophy,” explained Nadiem, as quoted from Ratna Puspita’s article on republika.co.id.

So, it is clear that what the Minister of Education and Culture (Nadiem Makarim) is calling for is the need for collaboration and engagement from all parties in supporting and implementing character education across various aspects of life.

According to him, character education is not limited to the academic and learning spheres; rather, the roots that must be strengthened lie within the family and social communities. Thus, character education will truly be realized in every child’s character in a constructive and holistic manner.

We certainly have high hopes for the initiatives currently being implemented and those to come from the Minister of Education and Culture (Nadiem Makarim) through his various strategic programs and policies. Ideas such as ECOMSTER, Link and Match, universal morality, Brain Drain The World to Indonesia, Job seeker to job creator, and other creative and visionary concepts may hopefully be realized and serve as a stepping stone toward improving the quality of education and human resources in this nation.