Tekun Menuntut Ilmu Meski dalam Keterbatasan
Tekun Menuntut Ilmu Meski dalam Keterbatasan
Like many of high school students, Arkan Syafera wants to pursue her education to the higher level hoping that one day she can fulfill her dreams.
“Since I was at junior high school, I had wanted to take a course at the university, but my parents told me I couldn’t do it unless with a scholarship. So, I had prepared myself since the start to get good grades so that I could get funded at university,” said Arkan when met at her home in Purbalingga, Central Java, on Thursday (15/6).
Arkan said it was not easy to go to the university due to the limited economic condition of her family. The earnings from their small shop are barely able to meet their daily needs. But this all did not prevent her from trying to get the best education as she could.
She would spend her time efficiently studying while also helping her parents manning the stall. After school she did more studies with her classmates. After a nap in the evening, she would do her homework at night at a cyber shop.
“I would go out at night with my father to do homework at a cyber shop because we have no computers at home. It’s okay for me as long as I can get good grades at school,” she said.
Arkan’s parents, Sukirno and Muslimah, knew that their daughter had ambitions to take further study and she was tenacious doing her responsibilities. But they were still a little shocked to hear once Arkan told them she wanted to study at UGM.
“Her teacher once asked her where she would go after high school. She said she wanted to study at UGM, and I was shocked, because I wouldn’t be able to afford it,” said the father.
Still, they believed that Arkan’s wishes to study at UGM was not something impossible to achieve. The persistence of Arkan’s to prepare herself to get scholarships made them believe that she would be able to achieve it eventually.
“She was very enthusiastic with her studies, she really wanted to be able to get admitted at UGM and get scholarships,” he recounted.
On a daily basis, the couple run their stall in their home selling daily needs. Previously, they sold goods at the market nearby. But eventually they had to give it up so that they could better take care of the younger son.
“At that time we had to leave home at 2 A.M for the market. We left Arkan with her granny. We had to bring the young son with us, but he became sickly so finally we decided to open the shop at home,” said Sukirno.
It’s indeed inadequate for the family to meet their daily needs from the modest shop. “We make only 300 thousand a month, so we really have to make do with it. I told Arkan if you want to go to university, try to earn scholarships first because we had no money,” he said slowly.
So finally the news that Arkan has been accepted at Faculty of Cultural Sciences UGM and she also earns the Bidikmisi scholarship seems like fresh air to the family. They were excited that their prayers had been answered and their dreams had finally come true.
Taking a new step in her life, Arkan is holding on to her strong determination to make use of her time and study hard in order to make her dream come true in the future and make her parents proud.
“Now I would learn Anthropology at UGM and I would really study hard. One day I want to be a minister,” said Arkan optimistically.