Malang- Secretary of PP Muhammadiyah, Dr. Abdul Mukti, told that in facing the challenges of globalization today, there should be at least four strengths, namely the power of science, economic power, the power of religion and the power of unity. That was conveyed in the opening of the National Olympiad and International Conference (Olycon) of Primary and Secondary Education (Dikdasmen) Council of PP Muhammadiyah East Java in UMM Dome, Saturday (05/14).

 

According to Mukti, today we face challenges due to a shift of values caused by the free market which allows any values freely coming ​​into our daily lives. The era of openness in any sectors; in the economic sector, politics and values ​​led to the inevitable era of competition. "Therefore, the educational challenge of Muhammadiyah is the ability to face the competition with its own powers," he said.

 

In addition, the competition covered all sectors. They who control the science and technology will win. Muhammadiyah should increase its confidence to face the competition by strengthening science and technology. "Therefore, the Muhammadiyah education should lead to a vision of Islamic education technology that is ready to face all the changes," said Mukti.

 

Admittedly, the changes to a new world have been held by a few people only. They have controlled almost every facet of life, so there is a far gap between the rich and poor countries. The most prominent strength of the developed countries is on human resources who master science and technology.

 

"According to the hadith, educate your children based on the era. Because this is a technological era, let’s give our students insight on technology," said Mukti who is also the former chairman of PP Pemuda Muhammadiyah.

 

Previously, the Chairman of the PWM East Java, Prof. Dr. Thohir Luth declared this Olympiad is an annual event. This year is its sixth period of event. During the Olycon, it was expected that there would be a sportive, honest, and high discipline of competition culture. "Muhammadiyah people are those who uphold honesty," said Thohir.

 

In its report, the Chairman of the Dikdasmen Council of PWM East Java, Dr. Abiyanto, explained Olycon was followed by no fewer than 2,600 students and 1,020 teachers. They participated the olympiad in Science, Mathematics, and Al-Islam and Kemuhammadiyahaan in English and Arabic. Meanwhile, the sport olympiad were futsal and Tapak Suci martial arts. "For teachers and principals, in addition to participating the international conference, they also took part in the call for papers," said Biyanto.

 

This year Olycon event was used by the Dikdasmen Council to launch Dana Abadi Sekolah program, school information system and the Diploma I of Muhammadiyah education. These programs would be immediately implemented for all Muhammadiyah schools. Special for D1 Kemuhammadiyahan program, University of Muhammadiyah Sidoarjo (Umsida) stated to be ready to educate Muhammdiyah school teachers. (www.umm.ac.id)