Written by Jeanice Eliana (Youth Volunteer Program participant)
Education is a fundamental right that every individual deserves, regardless of their socioeconomic or cultural background. Unfortunately, children in remote and rural areas still face significant barriers to access education, such as lack of transportation, inadequate infrastructure, and a shortage of qualified teachers.
Over the last 5 years, Indonesia has achieved commendable progress in increasing access to education. However, this does not mean that the struggle ends here. According to UNICEF, 22% children and adolescents in Papua are still out of school. Moreover, less than half of 15-year-old students in Indonesia passed the minimum proficiency level in reading. As Indonesians, this calls us to step in and do something to make a difference.
Yes, this includes you, youths.
As youths, we may ask ourselves: is it even possible for me to make a difference? Will my contributions even help at all?
To resolve problems as complex as education, we need us community members to hold hands and work together, no matter how old or young, or how much we consider ourselves capable. We need a diverse perspective on how to improve access to education in Indonesia and combat challenges that comes with them.
That’s a sign for us youths to step in and advocate for change. There are a myriad of ways to create a difference in our community, particularly access to education.
One way we can make a difference is through volunteering. With the increase of organizations advocating for equal education, there are many opportunities to use our talents to volunteer ourselves, whether it be tutoring students who may struggle to access education, using our creativity to create contents promoting awareness towards this issue, using our organizational skills to take part in planning or implementing programs, and so on.
Being the generation closest to the latest technologies and platforms, we can use our energy and enthusiasm to bring this issue to light to people around us through social media platforms and gather more people to take actions. It can be even as simple as word-of-mouth, where we simply tell our family or friends about this issue and invite them to donate a portion of their pocket money together. When done by more and more people, these seemingly small actions can create an unimaginable impact.
So, don’t be afraid and start to take action in your own way!
