UNS — Ten students from Early Childhood Education Program (PG-PAUD) Faculty of Teacher Training and Education (FKIP) Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta Batch 2019 are managing a humanitarian project that focuses on the role of a father in children development funded by Merdeka Belajar Kampus Merdeka (MBKM) UNS 2021 grant.
Led by Prestiyana Kusuma Wardani, the team has nine members: Nadia Noviani, Qori Zuroida, Safa Tasya Kamila, Walidatul Khotimah, Margaretha Jessica W. S, Uria Arimanta, Revanna Varnesia, Rima Fatima Larasati, and Sonia Alfi F, supervised by Novita Eka Nurjanah, S.Pd., M.Pd., PG-PAUD faculty member.
To uns.ac.id, Qori Zuroida, as team representative, explained that this project was motivated by Indonesian rank in global fatherless children or fatherless country on March 2021. According to cnnindonesia.com, fatherless means a condition in which a child grew with the presence of their father, both physically or psychologically. Or even when a father exists, they do not have a maximum role in raising their children. Qori explained that this condition might be caused by the traditional gender role that is still strongly held in the Indonesian community.
“Culture or view in which raising children is the full responsibility of a mother. Thus, this education also aims to minimize the patriarchy in Indonesia,” Qori said on Saturday (2/10/2021). Qori added that in general, this project is a socialization of the role of a father in the parenting process, which collaborated with PG-PAUD UNS faculty members and targeted fathers, prospective fathers, and boys older than 18 years old.
Online socialization was conducted for the general public, and offline sessions were scheduled for Ketitang Village, Nogosari Subdistrict, Boyolali District community. To this day, the team has conducted two socialization on 13 September 2021 and 3 October 2021 (online) in Ketitang. The team has scheduled three other webinars for the community.
“We also held ‘father and children’ event, an outbound that build closeness between children and their father. We also provided tutoring services for children in Ketitang,” Qori added.
Because of its target, the team is challenged to find participants from Ketitang village because usually, similar program attracts housewives more than men. However, the team received support from the village government. The team hoped that this program could improve prospective fathers, men, and fathers in Indonesia on the role of a father. Humas UNS
Reporter: Kaffa Hidayati
Editor: Dwi Hastuti