The cooperation will assist students and lecturers in implementing long-distance learning.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Directorate General of Higher Education of the Education and Culture Ministry has joined hands with telecommunication providers for facilitating the implementation of long-distance learning in the next semester.

"The cooperation will assist students and lecturers in implementing long-distance learning," Director General of Higher Education Prof. Nizam noted during his online address at the signing of a memorandum of understanding with XL Axiata here on Wednesday.

Nizam pointed to internet networks being the rudimentary requirements to organizing long-distance learning, for which the ministry will provide data packages affordable to both students and lecturers.

Digital transformation has grown at a more rapid pace during the COVID-19 pandemic, he remarked.

Despite being launched in the early 2000s, long-distance learning had yet to be optimally realized, he noted.

It was not until 2020 that long-distance learning was simultaneously applied in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, he stated.

The professor noted that currently, only 43 percent of university students were able to afford online learning owing to the lack of internet networks, high costs, and dearth of gadgets.

"Moreover, during the early days of applying long-distance learning, (they) need large quotas and costs, so many students had lodged protests," he remarked.

The ministry has trained some 100 thousand lecturers to hone their skills in organizing long-distance learning, he stated.

Secretary of the Directorate General of Higher Education Paristiyanti Nurwardani stated that the ministry had inked cooperation agreements with several telecommunication providers.

"This is in line with directives from the minister and the director general of higher education to ensure that no students will drop out of higher education despite the COVID-19 pandemic and economic difficulties. We hope (it) would reach all students and lecturers in the next four months," she added.

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Translator: Indriani/Suharto
Editor: Sri Haryati
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