PORTALJABAR, DISTRICT. GARUT - The Garut Regency Education Council held a socialization of the Community Movement to Enter Educational Units (GEMMAS) which took place in the Garut Regional Secretariat (Setda) Meeting Room, Monday (6/5/2024).

The GEMMAS program was born starting from long discussions over the past 4 years, during which the level of community participation in continuing education was increasingly low.

"There is a non-linearity between the number of elementary school students in Garut Regency and the number of junior high schools, which according to 2018 BPS data, almost 40% did not continue," said Garut Regency Education Council Secretary Dedi Kurniawan.

Not only the elementary to middle school level, continued Dedi, the middle to high school level also experienced a decline, with only around 55%-60% continuing their education.

Dedi also highlighted the Human Development Index (HDI) figure for Garut Regency which is in 25th place in West Java Province, where the lowest index value of the HDI level is in the education sector.

According to him, the lowest Education Index in HDI scores, especially in HLS (Harapan Lama Sekolah) with ages 7-18 years, is 26th in West Java.

Dedi said that his party gave birth to the idea of holding the GEMMAS program. His party will carry out outreach at the sub-district level, in order to see what kind of problems are occurring in the field related to the world of education in Garut Regency.

"We will analyze the actual data regarding the problems in society in the world of education," he said.

Assistant for Government and People's Welfare (Pemkesra) of the Regional Secretariat of Garut Regency, Bambang Hafidz, appreciated the Garut Regency Education Council for initiating this activity, which he considered very important.

Bambang explained that regional governments, sub-district governments and village governments must work together to support the GEMMAS program.

"But with this movement, everyone is involved, because of course all elements at the village level, including the village head, are therefore the ones who are responsible," he said.

He hopes that through this activity the community can understand the importance of education for their children. Apart from that, continued Bambang, all parties, especially the village government, can also be involved in organizing GEMMAS activities.

"Therefore, of course each sub-district and each village must also have the same concern for community movements, which of course involve many parties," he said.

Also present was the Chairman of the Garut Regency Education Council, Dr. H. Makan Rusmanad and representatives of Regional Apparatus (PD) and other invitees.