VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Cyber universities have been opened in Indonesia to expand higher education coverage, director general of higher education, research and technology at the Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Ministry, Nizam, has said.

“We have opened some cyber universities, such as Indonesia Cyber Education Institute, or ICE Institute, under Universitas Terbuka (UT), Universitas Cyber Asia, Muhammadiyah Cyber University, and Universitas Indonesia Cerdas,” he informed during a webinar on 'ICE Institute for One Indonesia', televised here on Wednesday.

Such efforts mirror the acceleration of digital transformation, which is important to be developed to make Indonesia not only a consumer but also a major player in the digital era, he highlighted.

“(We should forge) our mutual cooperation spirit to transform and to support one another in attempts to build the nation,” he noted.

ICE Institute offers 138 online courses through its consortium comprising 14 higher educational institutions, ICE Institute head Paulina Panned informed.

“The institute also offers 1,420 online courses from EdX, an MIT-Harvard consortium, for all academicians across Indonesia,” she added.

The total number of students studying at ICE Institute has reached more or less 3,700 and 220 of them have graduated from their courses, Pannen informed.

Meanwhile, Universitas Terbuka rector Ojat Darojat said that the ICE Institute has played an important role in opening access to recognized online courses for all students at the higher education level.

In the near future, the institute's students will be offered some programs to achieve specific skills required in the country from micro-credentials to game development to artificial intelligence for the education sector, he added

“There will be more higher educational institutions joining the ICE Institute consortium in the near future in a bid to develop the learning network nationally, thereby making the program more massive,” he remarked. (Antaranews)

Secretary of the Directorate General of Islamic Community Guidance at the Religious Affairs Ministry, Fuad Nasar, has advised people aged over 60 to worship at home during religious holidays.

"According to the regulation, the elderly people are not recommended to participate in religious activities in places of worship," he said at a virtual discussion accessed from here on Wednesday.

Earlier, the ministry had issued Circular Letter Number 29/2021 concerning Guidelines for the Implementation of Religious Holidays Commemoration amid the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The circular also included several rules to curb virus transmission in places of worship.

Furthermore, the secretary said that the regulation also encourages administrators of places of worship to provide a PeduliLindungi app quick response code.

Hence, people who want to enter the places have to use the app to mitigate the transmission of COVID-19, he added.

“The pandemic has made the people adjust their worship activities. Thus, we encourage the strict implementation of health protocols in worship activities to also be conducted in other activities," Nasar remarked.

The ministry has socialized the regulation among all religious figures by deploying its religious counselors, he informed.

Awareness regarding the implementation of health protocols will be more effective if religious figures deliver it directly to the community, he added.

In addition, the ministry is also urging administrators of places of worship to install the equipment needed to examine the health of their congregation.

“Hence, we do not only issue the regulations but also facilitate the worship places by providing the equipment to handle the pandemic," the directorate general secretary added. (Antaranews)

Minister of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions, and Transmigration, Abdul Halim Iskandar, has expressed confidence that Indonesia would be free of extreme poverty by 2024.

"When President Joko Widodo declared that zero percent extreme poverty would be achieved in 2024, I felt confident that we could achieve the target on time," Minister Iskandar stated while inaugurating a village tourism facility in West Nusa Tenggara, observed from Jakarta on Wednesday.

He said his ministry has proceeded with a village-level approach and completed village SDGs-based microdata to achieve the zero percent extreme poverty level on time.

"The ministry strives to assist villages to complete and update the microdata to assist us in achieving zero poverty villages," Iskandar remarked.

The microdata would allow for direct and targeted benefit distribution and will be in the best interests of villagers, he added.

As per the Village Ministry's Regulation No. 21 of 2020, village SDGs-based data comprises villagers' family and address data, smallest village administrative units data, and village development data, Iskandar explained.

The SDG-based data is collected by village volunteers, then stored, and utilized by the village authority to nurture data-based development planning habits in the village, the minister said.

"Village data would allow better village development planning, as data, instead of demand of one villager's group, would become the main basis for village development," Iskandar explained.

The minister confirmed the nationwide SDGs-based village data collection has reached 60 percent completion. The data collection will proceed until its completion, as it would serve as the basis for conceiving an extreme poverty eradication plan and achieving the zero percent target by 2024, he added.

"Praise be to God, the collection process has reached 60 percent as we believe the village has great potential. We believe we will completely eradicate extreme poverty by 2024," Minister Iskandar remarked. (antaranews)

Head of the National Demography and Family Planning Board (BKKBN) Hasto Wardoyo said that according to the Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI), Indonesia has a high tolerance compared to other countries.

"Our nation has been scientifically assessed to have a high tolerance," he remarked at an online seminar entitled ‘Implementation of Pancasila (Indonesian National Ideology) Values in Building Indonesian Families with Pancasila Character’ on Wednesday.

The index measures the community’s level of anxiety while doing activities or facing uncertainty in everyday life in a country, he informed.

In countries with a low index value, people tend to be more comfortable in facing various situations, for instance, when meeting someone from a different background or being in a society with a heterogeneous culture, he explained.

"Thus, if the value is higher, the tolerance in society is lower,” the BKKBN head said.

Indonesia's UAI value is 48, Asian countries’ average UAI value has reached 58, while the global value has touched 64, he informed.

In addition, Indonesia's individualism index score is just 14 points, with the average score for Asian countries and the world at 23 points and 43 points, respectively, he said.

It shows that Indonesia has a collective society that is supported by a high tolerance, he noted.

"We are a nation that loves to build kinship, likes to work together, and enjoys deliberation. These are the noble values of our nation which we embody in the Pancasila," Wardoyo remarked.

Furthermore, he said he believed that Pancasila as an ideology is the estuary and mediator of personal, family, and community diversity in Indonesia, for instance, differences in ethnicity, religion, and class.

"We have very noble values embodied in our nation," he added.

Meanwhile, the Uncertainty Avoidance Index is one of six Hofstede Insights’ research dimensions of culture, he said. (Antaranews)