Hebat! Anak Kuli Bangunan Diterima Kuliah Gratis di UGM
Hebat! Anak Kuli Bangunan Diterima Kuliah Gratis di UGM
Heni Setiawati (39) could barely control herself when she learned that her son, Surya Panaragan, has been accepted at Fishery Resources Management at Faculty of Agriculture UGM. Surya Panaragan, or Aga for short, will even be able to study for free until graduation.
It is hard for Heni to imagine that her son would be able to study at a higher learning since her husband, Suryo Sungkowo (52), who makes a living as a building worker can hardly make ends meet to support his family with three children. He moves from city to city to work and only returns home every three months. To assist her husband, she would go around the Ponorogo city to sell clothes.
“I was happy that my son would be able to make his dream to study at UGM come true,” said Heni in tears at her home on Thursday (30/6).
Currently, Heny and children live in the house of one sibling in Kauman area of Ponorogo since 2002. Previously, they had to move from place to place renting houses. Despite her modest condition, Heni is thankful she has three children who are understanding and not demanding.
Despite Aga having been confirmed to receive the Bidikmisi scholarship, Heni is still worried because they cannot yet find a room to rent for the full length of his study as the rent in Jogja is very expensive for her family to afford.
She hopes Aga’s study would be running well and Aga would be successful. Her other children are currently at vocational school and junior high school.
Aga said he had wanted to go to college since his childhood, but he fully understands his family condition. This condition even triggered him to study hard and make achievements. He always made good grades at the high school, so he was granted scholarships for three years. He is also good non-academically, especially in basketball, “We had won the basketball competition in East Java Province,” said the alumnus of SMA 1 Ponorogo.
He is very grateful to get accepted at UGM, which is thanks to the support from the family. Aga hopes to be able to make their lives better and make his family happy. For him, economic limitations are not a barrier to achieve success.
“Just believe that if we keep on trying and not easily giving up, we would be able to have a better future,” he said.
With the opportunity to study further, he hopes he would be able to contribute to the country as well by advancing Indonesia’s fisheries sector.
“The fishery potential in Indonesia is huge, but this has yet to be explored to the utmost. So, I wish to also have a role in pushing forward the fishery management,” he said.