The Faculty of Education and Psychology at Semarang State University (UNNES) held a seminar titled “Strengthening Education as the Nation’s Moral Compass: Sharpening Right-Wrong and Good-Evil Thinking Skills.” The event, held in the UNNES Auditorium, commemorated National Teachers’ Day, which falls on November 25, 2025.
The seminar featured Sabrang Mowo Damar Panuluh, better known as Noe Letto, as the keynote speaker. The event was attended by various groups, including university leaders, UNNES lecturers, representatives from the City/Regency Education Offices in Central Java, ISPI (Indonesian Association of Education Graduates), principals and teachers from Semarang City, deans of FKIP (Teaching and Education Faculty) from across Central Java, educational associations, and undergraduate education students.
In his presentation, Sabrang emphasized that education is an essential and contextual aspect because every nation has its own concept of education. He stated that education is not solely the responsibility of the government, but of the entire nation.
“A nation gives birth to a state, and the state then forms a government. Education cannot be the sole responsibility of teachers; families and communities are also ecosystems within education itself,” he said.
Citing the definition of education in the Big Indonesian Dictionary (KBBI), Sabrang stated that the primary goal of education is to change behavior. This task, he argued, carries significant moral weight, similar to the task of the prophets. He emphasized the need to reexamine the role of teachers in the educational process.
“The teacher’s job is to broaden children’s horizons, so they have perspective and understand the consequences,” he emphasized. He added that being a teacher is not easy because every teacher’s actions have the potential to be imitated by students. The task of education, he continued, is to teach cause and effect, provide experiences of cause and effect, and help students predict cause and effect.
Sabrang also touched on the long history of education in Indonesia. He explained that since the Hindu era, the educational concept of Asram a place for “exhausting oneself” has been known, which later inspired the Islamic boarding school (pesantren) model in the archipelago.
He further emphasized the important role of universities as the vanguard in advancing education. He believed that universities are centers of experimentation that enable the development of science. With scientific advancements, the quality of education is expected to improve, in line with one of the Sustainable Development Goals.
In conclusion, Sabrang emphasized that education should not stop at mastering cognitive aspects but also needs to address behavioral aspects. Behavioral change is best achieved through modeling. Instinctively, humans learn first through modeling before using other methods. He argued that modeling is the most effective way to transfer values, as the primary goal of education is not simply to convey information, but rather to instill values.
“Education is the best method for transferring knowledge and values,” he concluded.
Question and answer session
Source: UNNES’ documentation
