Strategic Management of Merdeka Curriculum Implementation Based on Religious Moderation: Opportunities, Challenges, and Resilience

Abstract

Indonesia's educational landscape is undergoing a profound transformation with the nationwide rollout of the Merdeka Curriculum (Kurikulum Merdeka), mandated through KMA Number 347 of 2022 for madrasah institutions. At the intersection of this curricular reform and the state's agenda for religious moderation lies a critical yet underexplored terrain: how Islamic junior secondary schools (MTs) in peripheral regions strategically manage, adapt, and sustain this dual mandate. This article examines the strategic management of Merdeka Curriculum implementation grounded in religious moderation values at MTs An-Nur 1 Malangbong, Garut, West Java. Employing a qualitative case study approach, data were gathered through in-depth interviews, participatory observation, and document analysis involving the school principal, curriculum coordinators, subject teachers, and students. The findings reveal that MTs An-Nur 1 Malangbong has navigated three interrelated dimensions: (1) the descriptive reality of curriculum implementation, including the integration of P5-PPRA (Projek Penguatan Profil Pelajar Pancasila dan Rahmatan Lil Alamin) with moderation values; (2) the critical factors driving and constraining implementation, including teacher readiness, infrastructure limitations, and institutional leadership; and (3) the transformative impacts on student character formation and institutional resilience. The study concludes that strategic leadership, community-based learning, and the embedding of wasathiyah (moderate) values within the curriculum framework constitute the primary drivers of resilience in this context. These findings contribute to the growing literature on madrasah curriculum reform and offer practical implications for policy and practice.