Vocational school not up to par<\/p>\n
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) revealed on
\nWednesday that many vocational school graduates fell short of
\nwhat was required by the industrial sector as the curricula
\napplied failed to keep pace with rapid developments in industrial
\ntechnology.<\/p>\n
\"Only 40 percent of vocational school graduates are absorbed
\nby the (industrial) sector,\" said Yudi P. Djojokusumo, chairman
\nof the East Jakarta branch of Kadin.<\/p>\n
Yudi attributed the low absorption rate in part to the poor
\nquality of graduates as well as the enduring economic crisis that
\nhad forced industry to take on less workers.<\/p>\n
Many graduates, Yudi said, had failed to keep up with the
\nrapid innovations in industrial technology.<\/p>\n
\"Fresh graduates, for instance, are unable to handle or
\noperate brand-new machines as they are used to operating the old
\nones,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"Only 20 percent of the workers recruited by industry managed
\nto meet the required standards,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Suryana Hidayat, principal of state vocational school 26 in
\nRawamangun, East Jakarta, admitted that many vocational schools
\nfound it difficult to follow developments in industrial
\ntechnology due to the limited funds available to them to provide
\ntraining for new technology.<\/p>\n
\"The state only provides Rp 200 million a year for the
\noperational costs of running a school,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Suryana also blasted many companies that insisted on better
\nquality graduates, but failed to provide support for achieving
\nthe required qualifications.<\/p>\n
\"Many companies ask for better qualified graduates but if we
\nask for support (to improve their quality), they don't respond,\"
\nSuryana complained.<\/p>\n
A total of 312 students graduated from Vocational School 26
\nthis year, Suryana said.<\/p>\n
Last year, more than 60,000 students graduated from 584 state
\nand private vocational schools here.<\/p>\n
The Jakarta office of the Central Bureau of Statistics
\nreported that the percentage of vocational school graduates in
\nthe work force was about 20 percent, or 4 million workers, the
\nsecond highest number after high school graduates (23 percent).<\/p>\n
Suryana said the lack of funds for upgrading the quality of
\nthe school had prompted him to ask for support from the West Java
\nInstitutional Development Project (WJIDP), a program run by
\nAusAID.<\/p>\n
\"Fortunately, wee obtained Rp 1.5 billion (AUD$300,000)
\nfrom the government of Australia to build an industrial training
\ncenter,\" Suryana told reporters following the inauguration of the
\nnewly established training center.<\/p>\n
The new training center, Suryana said, would not only serve
\nthe school's students but also other students as well as workers
\nupon request.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, John Nagel, WJIDP team leader, said the newly-
\ninaugurated center had been developed as part of the Indonesia-
\nAustralia Partnership for Skills Development program.<\/p>\n
Nagel said that the project, which was aimed at ensuring
\nstudents achieved competence in accordance with the needs of
\nindustry, would run for three-and-a-half years.<\/p>\n
\"We hope that other training institutions will look at the
\nnewly established training center and follow its suit in
\nimproving their own training,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Nagel revealed that similar support had also been provided to
\nother schools, including Vocational School 3 in Tangerang,
\nBanten, and the Institute of Textile Technology (STTT) in
\nBandung, West Java.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/vocational-school-not-up-to-par-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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