Confluent Platform 5.4 introduces robust data governance support through Schema Validation, enabling enforcement of data correctness at the broker level by ensuring that data produced to Apache Kafka topics adheres to a registered schema ID in the Confluent Schema Registry. This approach marks a shift from treating schemas as mere agreements between clients to a more comprehensive governance mechanism integrated into the event streaming platform itself, facilitating centralized policy enforcement. By configuring the `confluent.schema.registry.url` in the server properties, users can enable Schema Validation at the topic level, ensuring that both key and value schemas are validated upon data entry. This feature not only prevents data corruption but also represents a foundational step towards advanced data governance capabilities, aligning with the broader enterprise need for structured data management across complex, real-time systems. Additionally, the update highlights the compatibility and migration possibilities between Confluent Server and Kafka, with an emphasis on the potential overhead of message-by-message schema validation and the flexibility provided by configuring schema validation strategies.