An aura of happiness shone on the face of Mawardi (65), even more when Rector of UGM, Prof. Ir. Dwikorita Karnawati, M.Sc., Ph.D., handed over to him a bicycle for his daughter, Mutmainnah, who has been accepted at Faculty of Pharmacy UGM. The man who drives a public transport for a living got on his knees and kissed the ground to express his gratitude to God for their luck.
“To be able to study at UGM has been the dreams of my daughter. Alhamdulilah, it finally came true,” said Mawardi during a gathering that brought together parents of all new students of Universitas Gadjah Mada on Monday (1/8) in Grha Sabha Pramana Hall UGM.
Mawardi was happy and proud that despite their limited financial situation, his daughter has always tried hard to have a higher education. He supports this despite his lack of resources, having three children to support. He always put their education on his priority list.
Besides Mawardi, four other parents receive assistance in the form of bikes. They are, Permana Suskalanggeng, scavenger from Sleman, Jumadi, seller of sugar cane iced drinks from Pontianak, Mustofa, clothes seller from Denpasar, and Ani Sugiarti, shop attendant from Wonosobo. They are representatives of parents whose children would earn government Bidik Misi scholarships from underpriviledged groups throughout the course of their study at UGM.
To the Rector and audience, Permana Suskalanggeng, said that he was happy that his son, Muhammad Wishka Al Hafiidh Suskalanggeng, has been accepted at Medical Education at Faculty of Medicine. He never imagined the son of a scavenger could ever study at UGM.
Permana said he collected junks from village to village in Sleman regency everyday. His income of IDR900 thousands is barely enough for his family with three children.
“I hope my son would one day be able to help his fellow human beings and build the country in health area,” he expressed his hope.
Similar hopes were exclaimed by Ani Sugiarti, the mother of Tiffani Febriana who has been accepted at Tourism study programe at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences; also by Jumadi, father of Ridha Wahyuningtyas who has been accepted at Nursing Sciences at Faculty of Medicine; and Mustofa, father of Ahmad Fauzi that gets selected to Accounting at Faculty of Economics and Business. They all hope their chhildren would be able to study well and afterwards achieve success in making their dreams come true and serving the society and the country.
The Rector said UGM had invited these parents to inspire other parents to always support their children in having higher education. Dwikorita said that economic limitations were not a barrier to pursue higher learning. “All can study at UGM as long as they have good achievements,” she said.
Dwikorita explained that UGM is open for everyone, even the underpriviledged people. Around 70% of UGM students are from the middle class to lower class. “Around 30% of students are from unfortunate families while 40% are from middle to lower class,” she added.
UGM does not tolerate students who cannot complete their studies due to financial reasons. Dwikorita said UGM always finds financial resources to fund students that have financial limitations. Until now, UGM manages as much as IDR200 billions from many resources for sholarships for the underpriviledged.
“Don’t make financial limitations an excuse not to finish your study,” she concluded.