Every May 2, Indonesia commemorates National Education Day, honoring the contributions of the national hero Ki Hadjar Dewantara in his fight for equal opportunity in Indonesian education during colonial times.
Since then, education in Indonesia has come a long way in terms of access but as we celebrate another year remnants of the struggle still linger in society, particularly among those who are less fortunate.
To rectify the issue, scholarship programs have been made available by both government institutions and the private sector; among the latter being the on-demand platform Gojek.
Following the success of the 2020 Beasiswa Gojek (Gojek Scholarship) last year that attracted over 5,000 applicants, Gojek is providing more opportunities for its driver partners’ children to receive a polytechnic diploma in the 2021 Beasiswa Gojek.
Gojek’s Indonesia regional head, Gede Manggala, announced in a statement that the company was proud to open the second year of the scholarship program, as part of its commitment to improve its driver partners’ and families’ quality of life.
“This initiative is also in line with the spirit of National Education Day, as we believe that education is the key to wider opportunities, including access to a better life for our driver partners’ families in the future,” he said.
After its registration period from 14 to 25 April, the scholarship selection process is now underway. The registration was open to all Gojek driver partners in Medan, Palembang, Greater Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang, Surabaya and Makassar, with selected participants receiving a full scholarship at the state polytechnic colleges in the respective provinces.
From the thousands of drivers who have registered their children this round, Gojek will selectively consider the quality of each driver partner and their children prior to entering them in the polytechnics’ selection processes. Beasiswa Gojek 2021 recipients will be announced in September.
Just as in the previous year, work experience-oriented polytechnic diplomas were chosen so that scholarship recipients can immediately become part of the workforce. The polytechnics collaborating with Gojek are also the top-tier state polytechnics in the cities where the program is available.
Greacea “Grace” Elizabeth Zai, a recipient of the 2020 Beasiswa Gojek and a civil engineering major at Politeknik Negeri Medan, said that in her six months at the polytechnic she was grateful for the chance to study the subject.
“My favorite part is the field practice, from building walls, installing ceramics, to measuring elevation with a waterpass. The Beasiswa Gojek program allows me to get closer to my dream of becoming head of construction,” she said.
Grace, the eldest of three children, received her education thanks to the efforts of her mother, who joined Gojek as a driver partner in 2017. While she was interested in her major because “it is so cool to build bridges and houses”, her dream is to build a house for her mother.
“It’s true [that] it may be a man’s field, but I’m sure women can do it too,” she said with a smile.
