<![CDATA[Kurikulum merdeka merupakan kurikulum yang dikembangkan untuk menutupi learning loss yang terjadi pada siswa selama pandemi covid-19. Kurikulum merdeka memberikan inovasi berupa kebebasan dalam implementasi suatu kegiatan pembelajaran. Hambatan dan tantangan dalam implementasi kurikulum merdeka beraneka ragam sehingga dalam kegiatan pengabdian masyarakat ini bertujuan untuk mengidentifikasi hambatan dan tantangan ditinjau dari perspektif guru SMP terhadap perbedaan kurikulum merdeka dengan kurikulum lainnya, konsekuensi implementasi kurikulum merdeka, serta kesiapan guru dalam menerapkan model atau pendekatan yang dapat digunakan untuk mengorganisir tuntutan pembelajaran kurikulum merdeka. Metode yang digunakan adalah dengan membagikan open-ended questionnaire kepada 31 guru SMP dan dianalisis dengan pendekatan kualitatif. Hasil menunjukkan bahwa terdapat 13 hambatan dan 8 tantangan dari implementasi Kurikulum Merdeka, serta implementasi model atau pendekatan sudah bervariasi. Kesimpulan dari kegiatan ini adalah kesiapan, hambatan, dan tantangan yang teridentifikasi dari perspektif para guru menunjukkan implementasi kurikulum Merdeka masih perlu dibenahi, sehingga kegiatan pelatihan-pelatihan guru untuk mendalami Kurkulum Merdeka perlu dilakukan secara masif.  Abstract. The independent curriculum is a curriculum developed to cover the learning loss that occurred in students during the COVID-19 pandemic. The independent curriculum provides innovation in the form of freedom in the implementation of a learning activity. The obstacles and challenges in implementing the independent curriculum are varied, so that in this community service activity the aim is to identify obstacles and challenges from the perspective of junior high school teachers to the differences between the independent curriculum and other curricula, the consequences of implementing an independent curriculum, as well as teacher’s readiness in implementing models or approaches that can be used to organize learning demands. independent curriculum. The method used is by distributing an open-ended questionnaire to 31 junior high school teachers and analyzed with a qualitative approach. The results show that there are 13 obstacles and 8 challenges from the implementation of the Independent Curriculum. The conclusion of this activity is that the readiness, obstacles and challenges identified from the perspective of the teachers shows that the implementation of the independent curriculum still needs to be improved, so that teacher training activities to explore the independent curriculum need to be carried out massively.]]>
