Exhibition on vocational training

JAKARTA (JP): An exhibition opens today highlighting the benefits of vocational training programs to both the education and business worlds.

The four-day Gebyar SMK expo at the Jakarta Fair Ground in Kemayoran is jointly organized by the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Jakarta chapter of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin Jaya).

Participants include vocational senior high schools, private companies and government institutions.

The government launched a "dual program" for vocational schools four years ago in which companies are encouraged to take on vocational school students for internships.

Kadin Jaya chairman Rainal Rais said only 319 of 2,500 chapter members had enlisted in the program so far.

He said the absorption rate of vocational school graduates was low because there were problems with their skills.

"The philosophy in business is still to make profit," he said.

The dual program has not been entirely wasted however.

Twenty-five percent of the 63,500 students who graduated from vocational high schools in Jakarta last year went straight into jobs, according to the Jakarta office of the Ministry of Education and Culture.

Rainal said Kadin could not compel its members to join the internship program. "We can only appeal," he said. (04)