Ambon, April 7, 2024 - The Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education Agency (LPDP) continues to demonstrate its commitment to providing inclusive services for scholarship applicants. Such as the offline substance selection activity held at the State Finance Building (GKN) in Ambon to facilitate access for LPDP scholarship applicants from affirmative action areas.

A total of 31 participants from various regions in Maluku underwent online substance selection at the GKN Ambon location, Jl. Pattimura, Ambon City. This activity took place over two days starting from Tuesday, May 7, 2024, until Wednesday, May 8, 2024, with the available time from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM WIB.

Until now, substance selection in LPDP scholarship registration has been conducted online even though the pandemic has passed. This allows participants to take the selection wherever they are and reduces the need to travel far to the selection location.

However, different conditions are experienced by a number of applicants, especially in remote areas such as in affirmative action areas. They often still face technical constraints such as the lack of stable internet networks in their residential areas.

Solutions and initiatives emerged from LPDP to provide equipment and internet network facilities at centralized locations by collaborating with the vertical office representation of the Ministry of Finance in the regions. The internet network is strengthened, portable modems are prepared as backups to ensure that the substance selection runs smoothly and optimally.

Ardi Sanduan, one of the selection participants from Pulau Buru, recounted that in his hometown, the internet network is still a problem. Therefore, he chose to come to GKN in Ambon even though he had to cross the island for eight to nine hours of travel.

"Being an LPDP Awardee is my biggest dream, and I don't want network issues to disrupt my interview process," said Ardi, who wants to study at Universitas Negeri Malang.

GKN Ambon provides support by providing interview rooms and waiting rooms. The examination rooms facilitated by GKN are very helpful for the smooth process of selection. As stated by Putri Angel Mikha, one of the participants from Ambon City. In her workplace, there are no available rooms that can be used for the exam. Because the substance selection requires participants to be in the examination room themselves, she chose to use the examination room facilities provided by GKN.

Reaching out to the Best Sons and Daughters, Maximizing the Equalization of Education Opportunities

Efforts to provide substance selection facilities to LPDP scholarship applicants in the Affirmative Action Program are LPDP's commitment to equalize access to equal opportunities. Head of the Cooperation and Scholarship Development Division, Agam Bayu Suryanto, said that activities like this need to be done so that LPDP scholarship recipients do not only come from certain provinces, but also from affirmative action areas.

"Our hope is that LPDP scholarship participants in Maluku province can increase so that the distribution of LPDP scholarship recipients will be more proportional in all provinces in Indonesia," he said.

Facilitating substance selection in the form of internet networks and examination rooms is recorded as the third time since the Covid-19 pandemic ended. Last year, a similar facilitation effort was made at GKN Ambon. Out of 34 participants who took the substance selection at GKN Ambon in October 2023, 26 of them passed the selection. This is an achievement where 76 percent passed the selection, exceeding the national pass rate of 73 percent.

Head of the Secretariat of the Ministry of Finance's Representative Office in Maluku at GKN, Aris Riantori Faisal, hopes that the cooperation in providing internet facilities will continue. He hopes that participants who take the selection at GKN Ambon this year will pass and become LPDP scholarship awardees.

It should be noted that substance selection is the final stage in the LPDP scholarship application process after passing the administrative selection and/or scholastic talent selection. Participants will be faced with a number of examiners for an in-depth interview process.

LPDP's presence in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance in Ambon is a form of synergy and joint commitment to maximizing #OurMoney for the acceleration of quality higher education that reaches to the corners of Indonesia. Later, this substance selection facilitation activity will also be held in three other cities, namely Jayapura, Sorong, and Kupang.

Editor: Tony Firman

Motto #ExplorPotensimu