Thus, you have to start thinking about it (the solutions to the problems) now.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN) has invited all government-funded Education Fund Management Institution (LPDP) scholarship awardees to help prepare superior generations in Indonesia.

"…preparing the superior generations in Indonesia to optimize the demographic dividend to realize Golden Indonesia 2045 is very important," BKKBN head Hasto Wardoyo told LPDP's Batch 201, according to a press release received on Thursday.

When attending the LPDP Awardee Departure Preparation on Wednesday (May 10, 2023), Wardoyo said that superior generations can be realized in Indonesia if human resources have adequate knowledge and skills, a good character, and strong mentality.

He also emphasized that superior youths are also important to achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs), especially to achieve zero extreme poverty, zero hunger, zero stunting, as well as low maternal and infant mortality.

Furthermore, the BKKBN head emphasized that Indonesia would be at a disadvantage if it does not have superior young human resources because the dependency ratio will keep increasing.

"Hence, you (the younger generations) will have a high burden, thus getting out of the middle-income trap and other problems will not be easy. Thus, you have to start thinking about it (the solutions to the problems) now," he said.

Superior generations would also help build prosperous families that are free from stunting or emotional disorders, which are serious problems that could threaten the quality of the population, he added.

Wardoyo said that currently, the stunting prevalence rate is 21.6 percent, while about 9.8 percent of people under 15 years old are suffering from emotional disorders, according to the Health Ministry’s Basic Health Research (Riskesdas) 2018.

“The stunting rate tends to decline, but the prevalence of emotional disorders tends to rise. This is a problem which needs to be solved because it turns out that (the increase in the prevalence of) emotional disorders (also) makes the (number of) drug users to increase," he added.

Hence, the BKKBN head said he expects the LPDP scholarship recipients to have the awareness to build a mentally as well as physically healthy and strong nation.

He also expressed the hope that all LPDP scholarship awardees would be able to balance their hard and soft skills so they can encourage the adoption of a better lifestyle, mindset, and habits among the public.





Translator: Hreeloita Shanti, Uyu Liman
Editor: Tia Mutiasari
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