JABAR EKSPRES – An ASEAN level hafiz or Quran memorizer named Mustofa Al Fatih attended the graduation of the Village Equality Education Building Movement (Gempita) in Lumajang Regency, East Java, Thursday (6/15).
The Gempita Desa program successfully graduated around 2,000 residents who studied from Study Group of Packages A, B and C in Lumajang district.
“I am touched that one of the graduates, Mustofa Al Fatih, is an ASEAN-level hafiz, who has memorized 30 juz of the Quran at the age of 17 and has just finished pursuing package B,” said Lumajang Regent Thoriqul Haq during the grand graduation ceremony of Gempita Desa learners at the Rock Convention Center Lumajang.
He hopes Mustofa will continue pursuing package C and go to college because Lumajang district government has a scholarship program for hafiz and hafizah, thus proving that people who follow the package can also excel.
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“Gempita Desa is an effort of Lumajang district government to resolve problems related to community education equality. The Gempita Desa program is also expected to increase Lumajang’s Human Development Index (HDI),” he said.
The Regent, who is usually called Cak Thoriq, hoped that the Gempita Desa learners would not be discouraged because graduates of equivalency education through the movement to build equivalency education still have the same opportunity to succeed and continue to higher education.
“We are proud that all of you have increased the education index in Lumajang. By participating in Gempita Desa, the average of elementary, junior high and high school graduates will increase,” he said.
Meanwhile, Lumajang Deputy Regent Indah Amperawati said that her party highlighted the case of early marriage as one of the factors causing students to drop out of school.
“Therefore, Gempita Desa is one of the solutions for people who drop out of school to continue their education equivalent to formal education,” she said.