Disabled students get scholarships

Disabled students get scholarships

Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Mohammad Afdal, 21, adjusted his glasses several times as he
squinted at the words written in bold across the white corkboard:
"Rp 90 million in scholarships".

The money was to help finance his studies at the University of
Indonesia (UI)'s School of Economics.

"This is good. I'm excited about this because at some point, I
know that my studies will be sustained and guaranteed," he told
The Jakarta Post after a ceremony to present the scholarship
money on Monday.

Afdal, in his third year at the university, was among four UI
students with physical disabilities who received a total of Rp 90
million (some US$10,000) in scholarships from the Hongkong and
Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd. (HSBC).

HSBC calls them Diversity Scholarships in acknowledgement of
the diversity that exists in society.

Afdal is totally blind in one eye and has impaired vision in
the other.

"My father died some years ago and my mother works as a street
vendor. I try to help pay my university fees by giving private
lessons to people. This helps a lot since we don't get assistance
from the university," he said.

The other three scholarship recipients are Arum Puspita, a
history student in her fourth year, Erwin Febriansyah, a public
health student in his first year, and Ahmad Fatulbari, a history
student in his second year.

UI rector Usman Chatib Warsa said grades were not the main
factor in determining the scholarship recipients, but rather the
university looked at their physical disabilities and their
financial need.

"The scholarships will be used mainly to cover tuition, books
and some living expenses. They might also be used to cover
research expenses for their theses," he said.

University of Indonesia is one of four state universities
allowed to set its own entrance and tuition fees, in exchange for
a cut in the government subsidy it receives. Students entering
the university this academic year were charged an admission fee
of between Rp 25 million and Rp 75 million.

HSBC's deputy chief executive officer for Indonesia, Mervyn
Fong, said how the scholarships were used would be decided by the
university, and expressed hope the bank would be able to provide
more scholarships in the future.

"Education is very important and I think it's the only thing
than can close the economic gap. Of course, we'll try to keep in
contact with these students. We might even employ them when they
graduate," he said.