Minister Latief wants `tailor made' training program<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief yesterday
\nappealed to all administrators of the government's vocational
\ntraining centers to design their programs to meet the needs of
\nindustry.<\/p>\n
\"We have to provide skills for workers that are being sought
\nin the labor market,\" Latief said during a meeting with the heads
\nof the vocational training centers.<\/p>\n
In an unusually frank admission, Latief said these centers
\nhave not been effective in the past in providing the kind of
\nskilled workers the industry needs.<\/p>\n
They existed apparently to simply spend the funds allocated by
\nthe government, he said.<\/p>\n
He called for the curriculum to be revamped and said that each
\ncenter must work closely with the provincial administration and
\nindustries in their respective locality in designing the
\ncurriculum.<\/p>\n
Citing an example, he said the center in Bali could develop
\nprograms for the needs of the island's tourism industry.<\/p>\n
Latief said now is the time for Indonesia to upgrade the
\nquality of its workforce because the rapid economic growth is
\nopening up job opportunities that could only be filled by skilled
\nworkers.<\/p>\n
He said Indonesia is also phasing out expatriates who were
\nhired because of the shortage of professional workers in the
\ncountry. The government is also sending fewer unskilled workers
\nabroad and for this better training facilities are needed.<\/p>\n
While there may be large unemployment among the unskilled
\nworkers in Indonesia, the situation is vastly different for
\nskilled workers.<\/p>\n
\"There is always a vacancy for skilled workers at home or
\noverseas,\" Latief said. \"Malaysia needs 17,000 skilled Indonesian
\nworkers, and local companies have had to hire foreigners to fill
\ncertain positions because they could not find Indonesians who are
\nqualified for the jobs.\"<\/p>\n
Refuted<\/p>\n
Latief last month also launched a new apprenticeship program
\nwhich uses the vocational training centers as the basis to work
\nin cooperation with the industry which hires the trainees and
\nprovides them with the necessary facilities.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Director General for Industrial Relations and Labor
\nStandards Suwarto in a separate occasion yesterday refuted the
\nsuggestion by the East Java office of the Legal Aid Institute
\n(LBH) that the majority of companies in the province are not
\npaying their workers the minimum wage.<\/p>\n
The LBH said its own survey found that as many as 86 percent
\nof 24,000 companies in the province have violated the minimum
\nwage rules. The government claims only four percent have not
\ncomplied.<\/p>\n
Suwarto questioned the validity of the LBH's survey based on
\nwhat he perceives as weaknesses in the methods of collecting the
\ndata, including the fact that some of the respondents were not
\nclearly identified. (rms)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/minister-latief-wants-tailor-made-training-program-1447893297",
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