we are the lucky ones

We Are The Lucky Ones

“What if the cure for cancer is trapped inside the mind of someone who can’t afford an education?” -unknown

As stated above, the data gathered by OECD displays that Indonesia got the lowest rank of PISA science test among all participating countries. Indonesia’s performance in reading and math aren’t much different either. Furthermore, World Bank stated that primary school enrollment rates are below 60% in Indonesian poor districts. The rate for early childhood education, higher education, and secondary education are still trailing behind our neighbor countries even though the latter experienced a steady climb these past few years.

I was fortunate that my university obliges each undergrad to do a community service for approximately 2 months in remote areas all around in Indonesia. I had this opportunity to be a teacher at a junior secondary school located in a village named Petir, 7 kilometres away from the phone signal. It ain’t all sunshine and rainbows, there was some mental rollercoasters as well. However, it opened my eyes wider, it broadened my perspectives. The school only has about 25 students, all of them have these homogeneous dreams where the girls aspire to be teachers while the boys wanna be a car repairman. If they were asked whether they wanna go to college or not, most would politely refuse. They’d rather go to vocational school which isn’t bad at all, but what i wanna emphasize here is that they’re afraid to get a higher education, they don’t dare even just to dream that far. There are high barriers preventing them to dream bigger.

            First of all, there is no sufficient access to information, that’s why they don’t even know how higher education will enrich their career path in the future. Second, there is no access to a tougher competition. They’re far away from other schools and other educational institutions. The 9th graders only compete among 14 students. Third, being far from other academic bodies disable them to find more facilities for improvements, such as tutoring/ additional courses outside the school that might help them to increase their academic performance. Fourth, the school itself lacks of teachers and human resources. Last but not least, they are lacking the access to financial support. All these five barriers are linked to each other. For instance, no access to information burdens them to find an access to financial supports.

One of the most important jobs of the educated, is to educate. You don’t have to be a teacher, but you can always kindly support the learners in any form. You can spread information and donate books like how Tint Stationery did *Thanks Tint! the boys love their new pink notebooks! ;)

Always remind yourself that all we have achieved, all we are now, and everything we will be next, we owe it to our parents’ sacrifices and our countries’ taxpayers whose money is allocated to subsidize our education. It isn’t mere hardwork that accounts for our successes. Many times, there are invisible hands giving us access and facilities to enable us pursuing our dreams. It’s a luxury, isn’t it? Embrace the opportunities, seize them. Be thankful because some can only dream of what we have.

I dedicate this letter to my fellow volunteers of KKN UGM Unit GK-03, you guys are wonderful human beings.