Preparing Indonesia's Golden Generation cannot wait until children reach school age. Its foundation is built from early childhood, when a child learns to recognize themselves, build a sense of safety, interact with their environment, and develop their potential.

This idea formed the common thread of the National Seminar and Alumni Gathering “Transforming Early Childhood Islamic Education Toward the Golden Generation of 2045: Collaboration Among Academics, Public Policy, and Child Protection,” organized by the Master's Program in Early Childhood Islamic Education (PIAUD), Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teacher Training (FITK), UIN Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta, on Friday (9/25/2026). The event was held at the Theatrical Hall, 4th Floor, Faculty of Medicine Building, UIN Sunan Kalijaga, and was attended by hundreds of students and alumni.

Also present were UIN Sunan Kalijaga Rector Prof. Noorhaidi Hasan and the university's vice rectors, FITK Dean Prof. Sigit Purnama and the faculty's vice deans, along with a number of other related parties.

UIN Sunan Kalijaga Rector, Prof. Noorhaidi Hasan, said this seminar holds particular importance because Indonesia is racing against time to prepare a generation entrusted with carrying the nation toward its peak of prosperity. Yet, he said, that aspiration still faces a range of challenges surrounding children's lives and the world of education.

Over the past three years, Prof. Noorhaidi said, he has been actively conducting research on human rights, particularly children's rights. Among the various issues uncovered, many Indonesian children still face poverty, neglect, indifference, and the loss of their childhood.

Some children, he continued, are forced to give up play and joyful childhood experiences because they must work to help support their family's needs. Others lose the chance to grow up normally due to being forced into marriage at a young age. Domestic violence also places children among its victims. Meanwhile, the world of education, which should ideally be a space for growth, can itself become a source of problems when education is directed in the wrong way.

The phenomenon of violence against children within caregiving spaces, including recent cases that have emerged in daycare settings, the Rector said, serves as a reminder that child protection requires shared attention. For that reason, children's education cannot be separated from efforts to ensure that the environment in which children grow is genuinely safe.

“Education matters enormously, through comprehensive collaboration with all relevant parties, to ensure children do not become victims of problems that entangle adults,” he said.

This challenge becomes all the more important given that the vision for Indonesia's Golden Generation aims to produce individuals who are intelligent, of noble character, creative, critical, productive, and possess a strong spirit of nationalism. This is an ideal vision, but not an easy one to achieve, because children's issues are not confined to what happens inside the classroom.

He touched on issues of nutritional adequacy, stunting, and the quality of human resources, all of which still require serious attention. Within this context, the Early Childhood Islamic Education Study Program (PIAUD) holds a strategic space in ensuring that education provided from the very beginning of life truly serves as a foundation for raising a resilient generation.

This perspective on child protection was further reinforced by the Minister of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection (PPPA), Arifatul Choiri Fauzi, who attended as keynote speaker.

The Minister said Indonesia's future depends heavily on how children are educated, raised, and protected today. She highlighted the still-high rates of violence against children, including sexual violence, which can occur from a very young age and, in a number of cases, places children as both victims and perpetrators.

For this reason, she said, addressing victims cannot stop simply at ending the violence. Comprehensive support and follow-through are needed so that children have room to recover and so that the cycle of violence does not continue.

In the context of education, Arifah encouraged the development of child-friendly educational institutions. This change, she said, needs to begin, among other things, with how educators view children, not merely as objects of learning, but as individuals who need guidance and support.

Educators need to be present as both mentors and friends to children. Universities such as UIN Sunan Kalijaga also have a role to play through the development of Islamic parenting guidance, research on integrated curricula, training professional educators, and developing holistic Islamic early childhood education models.

Parenting challenges, Arifah said, are growing increasingly complex amid the development of digital technology. Children today have many more spaces to seek information and share their stories. In some cases, children even feel more comfortable talking to friends or their mobile phones than to their own parents. For this reason, children's education needs to be built on a foundation of religious values, noble character, and good manners.

The issue of quality in children's education was also highlighted by Professor of Educational Psychology at UIN Sunan Kalijaga, Prof. Dr. Suyadi. According to him, the success of children's education should not be measured solely by academic achievement, competition results, or the ability to keep pace with technological developments.

He noted that a child who appears accomplished does not necessarily possess strong psychological resilience. The pressure to always be the best, including the common habit among adults of comparing a child to siblings or peers, can leave a child feeling as though they are never good enough. For this reason, overly rigid power dynamics between parents and children need to begin to be set aside.

“Parents need to build a relationship that makes children feel comfortable speaking up. Be a friend to your child, understand how they think and see the world, and align yourselves on the same wavelength so we can genuinely accompany them through their growth,” he advised.

This view resonated with ideas shared by Dr. Luluk Elyana, Rector of Universitas IVET, who discussed the importance of an integrative, holistic curriculum in early childhood education. This approach positions child development as something whole and interconnected, meaning education does not stand alone, but is linked with caregiving, health, protection, and the environment in which a child grows.

This seminar positioned early childhood education not merely as an initial stage leading to the next level of schooling, but as a space for building the very foundation of a child's life, one in which knowledge, caregiving, protection, health, and a nurturing environment must move forward together.

For the PIAUD Master's Program at UIN Sunan Kalijaga, this space forms an important part of its academic work: generating knowledge, preparing educators, and bringing together diverse perspectives to address the ever-evolving challenges facing children. For, ultimately, the Golden Generation of 2045 is being shaped by the children growing up today. (humassk)