Exhibition on vocational training

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)