Speaking during a ministerial position handover ceremony in Jakarta on Monday, Effendy encouraged Pratikno to keep striving to boost the Gross Enrolment Rate (APK) of higher education in Indonesia, which stood at 31.45 percent in 2023.
He underlined that Indonesia had set a target to increase the rate to 45 percent by 2035 and 60 percent by 2045.
The former minister then urged his successor to carry forward his work to further suppress the poverty rate to at least 7.5 percent. Currently, the rate stands at 9.03 percent, which is the lowest ever registered in the last decade.
Effendy also underscored the need for continuous extreme poverty alleviation efforts, highlighting that the extreme poverty rate in the country fell by 0.29 percentage points, from 1.12 percent in March 2023 to only 0.83 percent in March this year.
In this regard, he urged the new government to continue to move towards achieving total elimination of extreme poverty in Indonesia by this year.
He also alluded to childhood stunting, noting that Indonesia had witnessed its national stunting prevalence considerably declining in the last half a decade, from 30.8 percent in 2018 to 21.5 percent in 2023.
"I hope that Mr. Pratikno will be able to continue (to achieve) the targets we have set," he concluded.
Coordinating Minister Pratikno, for his part, thanked Effendy for his warm welcome while vowing that he will continue the implementation of the targets or programs under the directives of President Prabowo.
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Translator: Asep F, Tegar Nurfitra
Editor: Tia Mutiasari
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