Purworejo, 29 November 2024 - The Institute for Educational Personnel Education (LPTK) of Teacher Professional Education (PPG) of Muhammadiyah Purworejo University (UMPWR) organised a Diversity Insight lecture for Batch 2 Teacher Candidate Students in 2024. The activity, which was held in the Seminar Room of Campus III Sucen, Muhammadiyah Purworejo University, was attended by 91 PPG Teacher Candidate Class 2 Year 2024 UMPWR students.
The Head of the UMPWR PPG Study Program, Dr Yuli Widiyono, M.Pd., said that this activity is a series of PPG curriculum activities, where there are 2 activities, namely Insights into Diversity and State Defense. This activity must be followed by PPG Prospective Teacher students, because in the future the students will become teachers or educators in schools.
‘This activity is organised by LPTK throughout Indonesia, which number 130 nationally. It is a government programme through the Directorate General of Teachers and Education Personnel, one of which aims to tackle bullying in schools’, he explained.
UMPWR Rector Assoc. Prof. Dr. Teguh Wibowo, M.Pd., who gave a speech as well as opening the event, said that this activity is very important because in the current era diversity is a problem. The Rector gave an example in the 2024 Simultaneous Regional Election yesterday where many Whatsapp groups vilified each other's candidate pairs. The Rector advised PPG Teacher Candidate students not to do this in class.
‘Students should not be directed to politics. Teachers must be neutral. Teachers, even if they support one of the candidates, should not be brought to class,’ he said.
The Rector also said that currently at UMPWR there are many non-Muslim students and the campus allows them not to wear the hijab because it is the right of non-Muslim students. This shows UMPWR as an inclusive campus with diversity.
The Rector again advised prospective teachers not to differentiate between students, such as those who are Muslim and those who are non-Muslim, those with good writing and those with poor writing, and those who are rich and those who are not rich.
In this activity the PPG Teacher Candidate students were given a Pretest and Postest to assess the students' insight into diversity. This activity was filled with 5 sub-themes which were divided into 2 sessions. In session 1, the first speaker was Wharyanti Ika Purwaningsih, M.Pd., who delivered material on ‘Diversity in Schools’. Wharyanti explained that the school that parents expect is a school that is democratic, equitable, and non-discriminatory. Prospective teachers must be able to facilitate students with these 3 things to make educated students.
The second speaker was Vice Rector III of UMPWR, Dr Budi Setiawan, S.Sos., M.Si., who delivered material on ‘Indonesian Diversity’. Dr Budi Setiawan explained that multiculturalism in Indonesia is a necessity, whether we like it or not. So, teachers with multiculturalism must be ready. In the current era, diversity is a very important thing to talk about because cultural and ideological clashes are very possible.
‘Currently, multiculturalism is not only limited to ethnicity, race, and religion but also socio-economic differences,’ Dr Budi Setiawan said.
The third speaker, Dr Titi Rokhayati, M.Pd. delivered material on ‘Global Diversity’. On this occasion, Dr Titi conveyed the verse of the Quran, namely Surah Al Hujurat verse 13 which reads ‘O man! Indeed, We have created you from a man and a woman, then We made you into nations and tribes so that you may know each other. Indeed, the most honourable among you in the sight of Allah is the most pious’.
Entering the second session which was held in the afternoon, the PPG Teacher Candidate students were equipped with 2 sub-themes, namely ‘Peace with Self’ delivered by Dr. R. Wakhid Akhdinirwanto, M.Si., and ‘My Peaceful School’ delivered by Dr. Semi Sukarni, M.Pd. (akbar/KP).
