Indonesia's education system 'worst' in Asia: Survey<\/p>\n
SINGAPORE (AFP): Indonesia has the worst education system in
\nAsia, according to a new survey of foreign business executives
\nworking in 12 countries in the region.<\/p>\n
Japan, Singapore and South Korea ranked the best, and as a
\nresult they have the highest quality labor forces, the Hong Kong-
\nbased Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC) said in
\nannouncing the finding on Sunday.<\/p>\n
China and India were not high on the list, but because of
\ntheir huge population, they have a large pool of highly-skilled
\nlabor army in niche industries, and had the potential to become
\nformidable competitors in the future.<\/p>\n
Educational standards in Southeast Asia rated poorly,
\nparticularly in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
The survey included several criteria such as the overall
\nimpression of the quality of the local educational system, and
\nthe cost of production labor. It covered the availability of high
\nquality production labor, the cost and availability of clerical
\nand highly qualified management staff, proficiency in English and
\noverall skill of the work force.
\n (The accompanying table provides the average scores for each
\ncountry).<\/p>\n
\"The first step to having a quality work force is developing a
\nquality education system,\" the PERC report said. \"This takes time
\nand money, and some Asian countries have been much more
\nsuccessful than others at doing this.\"<\/p>\n
It said Asia's most economically developed countries have
\ninvested heavily in education, and was one of the factors which
\nhave accounted for their success.<\/p>\n
\"Our survey indicates that expatriates today are even more
\nimpressed with how Korea has pushed its educational system to
\nproduce a quality labor force than they are with Japan,\" it said.<\/p>\n
Lacking in natural resources, Asian \"tiger\" economies like
\nTaiwan and Singapore have recognized that \"labor was their main
\nasset with which to attract foreign investment and stimulate
\neconomic development\" and compete with new high-growth areas such
\nas China and India.<\/p>\n
PERC criticized Southeast Asian countries like the Malaysia,
\nthe Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam for viewing China more as a
\ncompetitor rather than a source of growth.<\/p>\n
\"Instead of trying to work through the challenge of how to use
\nChina and India's economic growth to their best advantage, most
\nSoutheast Asian countries are focusing on how to protect their
\ndomestic industries,\" PERC said.<\/p>\n
It praised Singapore for responding to the challenges by
\nfurther opening up its economy and bringing in more skilled
\nexpatriates to work for home-bred companies, despite some
\nresentment among the local work force.<\/p>\n
Such a policy, while it may be \"painful to swallow
\npolitically\", is more effective in the medium term in improving
\nthe competitiveness of the local labor force, PERC said.<\/p>\n
The consultancy cautioned that the impact of the growing labor
\nforce in China and India will be \"profound\" to both Asia and the
\nworld.<\/p>\n
\"Both countries have almost unlimited pools of low cost
\nproduction labor as well as huge numbers of engineers,
\nscientists, computer programmers and other types of well-
\neducated, skilled labor,\" it noted.<\/p>\n
While India has been making a mark in using its top labor
\nforce to develop a world-class computer software industry, it can
\nalso move to harness its vast potentials to make it a
\nmanufacturing powerhouse like China.<\/p>\n
China, on the other hand, \"can take a page out of India's book
\nand move more into knowledge industries\" like computer
\nprogramming and research.<\/p>\n
These moves will bring the two \"elephant economies\" into
\ncompetition with Asia's \"tiger economies\" in a wider range of
\nindustries, including manufacturing and services, PERC said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/indonesias-education-system-worst-in-asia-survey-1447893297",
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"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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