Strengthening National Identity

Pancasila and Indonesian language education should be carried out simultaneously to respond to the needs and demands of the times, as well as strengthen our identity as a nation.

Kompas/AGUS SUSANTO

Indonesia\'s national symbol, Garuda Pancasila in the Kebhinekaan Park at the East Jakarta floodgate in Duren Sawit, East Jakarta, Saturday (07/07/2018). The introduction and reaffirmation of the values of Pancasila and diversity are now displayed in public spaces.

Calls for Pancasila education to become a compulsory subject have increased as Government Regulation No. 57 of 2021 on national education fails to include it.

Teaching Pancasila only as part of the wider subject of civic education (PPKn), as is currently the case based on the 2013 curriculum, means Pancasila values are not fully imparted to students (Kompas, 21/4/2021). The substance of Pancasila values has not been maximally mainstreamed in PPKn. Pancasila education must become a compulsory subject in its own right at all levels of education. Educational institutions are expected to have the responsibility to strengthen Pancasila values for the formation of students’ character amid a weakening understanding of Pancasila and a high degree of intolerance for social diversity.