North Sumatra Government to Build Tourism Vocational Boarding School in Samosir
The North Sumatra Provincial Government is building a flagship vocational secondary school (SMK) in the tourism sector with a boarding school concept in Samosir Regency.
Governor Bobby Nasution said the boarding school is designed to produce excellent human resources ready to support the development of the Lake Toba area as a world-class tourist destination.
“We are building a flagship school in Samosir. This will be a tourism vocational school,” he said while attending the National Working Meeting of the Simbolon dohot Boruna Indonesia Association (PSBI) in a written statement in Medan on Tuesday.
According to him, the school will not only be a place for learning but also for shaping students’ character and mental readiness. He confirmed that all educational needs will be covered by the provincial government.
“The scheme is boarding, and all costs are borne by the government. Not just learning materials, but also the students’ mental readiness,” he said.
He mentioned that the planning stages have progressed well, allowing construction to be realised soon. “We have prepared the land, so we just need to build. The Detailed Engineering Design (DED) has been completed,” he said.
He also stressed the importance of transforming cultural management in North Sumatra to provide added value for the community. He argued that cultural preservation must be developed through a creative industry approach so that it remains sustainable while also providing economic benefits.
“We are no longer in an era of preserving culture statically, but rather preserving it through industry,” he said.
He also proposed the integration of Regional Drinking Water Companies (PDAM) across North Sumatra as a solution to address clean water supply issues in various areas.
PSBI Chairman Effendi Simbolon raised three fundamental issues affecting the community, including limited infrastructure, particularly the availability of clean water and irrigation in Samosir. “It is the only regency surrounded by water, yet it lacks water, both clean water and irrigation water,” he said.
Secondly, he addressed the operations of Aquafarm in the Lake Toba area. He clarified that PSBI does not want the company to be shut down, but demands accountability regarding environmental sustainability. “We do not want to close Aquafarm, but we ask that Aquafarm implements water and wastewater treatment,” he said.
Furthermore, PSBI emphasised the importance of preserving Batak culture as an ancestral heritage that forms the community’s identity. “We live and are raised inseparable from the DNA of the Batak people. That is culture. Therefore, we ask for its preservation, because within that culture there is art, and the art is diverse,” he said.