Institute aims to teach skills to migrant workers

Institute aims to teach skills to migrant workers

Fadli, The Jakarta Post, Batam

"LPPTKI" (the Indonesian Migrant Workers Empowerment and Training
Institute) is inscribed on the nameplate of a three-story
building located in a corner of Puri Industrial Park, Batam. The
institute, which was opened recently, is managed by the Batam
International Training Center (BITC), a government-sponsored
training center for migrant workers.

The institute is built to train Indonesian migrant workers
wishing to work as maids in Singapore. It provides workers with
the opportunity to improve their skill in using a variety of
equipment, including washing machines, electric irons, rice
cookers and clothes lines.

Roger Tan, a consultant at BITC, said that the training center
was opened following evaluation of the performance of Indonesian
migrant workers in Singapore. According to the evaluation, the
workers performed poorly in the tiny neighboring country compared
with workers from other countries. He said that Indonesian
migrant workers had difficulty in speaking English. Their ability
to use household equipment was rated below that of their
counterparts from other countries. They also had a lack of self-
confidence, especially when meeting new people.

As a result, Indonesian migrant workers were paid less than
their foreign colleagues, including those from the Philippines,
India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Thailand, said Tan.

New migrant workers from Indonesia are paid S$230 per month,
while the salary for those who have extended their contracts is
$300 to $350 per month.

Newcomers from other countries are paid more than $300 per
month, while those who have extended their contracts are paid
even more.

"Through this institute, we shall train Indonesians who wish
to work in Singapore as housemaids, so that they are capable of
doing household jobs in Singapore. We shall set quality standards
for migrant workers and give them a certificate so that
prospective employers in Singapore will have no worries about
employing them.

With this system in place we hope that their salaries will be
on a par with those of housemaids from other countries," he said.

Tan said the institute would carry out particular tests of
competence, which would enable a housemaid to earn a certificate.
These would include tests of English language ability, cooking,
housekeeping, doing laundry and baby-sitting.

The tests would be organized by the institute, while the
certificates would be issued by the Ministry of Manpower and
Transmigration, he said.

"We shall not pay attention to their educational background:
Whether they are elementary, junior high or senior high school
graduates, we shall treat them equally," he said. The training
will take one to two months.

The institute has still to determine who will pay for the
training, whether the migrant worker themselves, their
prospective employers or both on a shared basis.

Director General of Migrant Worker Placement Abroad at the
ministry I Gusti Made Arke said that the training would increase
the market value of workers, which would affect their salaries.
He said that Singapore had good potential as a market for
Indonesian migrant workers, because the tiny, but prosperous
country had a demand for some 17,000 migrant workers, including
housemaids, every year.