P2MI Ministry pushes vocational graduates towards international competitiveness

Cilegon (ANTARA) - The Ministry for the Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (P2MI) is continuously encouraging graduates of Vocational High Schools (SMK) in Banten Province to become internationally competitive, or ‘Go Global’, so that vocational graduates can fill formal sector job opportunities in various countries. This commitment was marked by the signing of a comprehensive memorandum of understanding (MoU) between KP2MI, the Banten Provincial Government, the Untirta Student Alumni Association, PT Krakatau Steel and SMK YPWKS Cilegon in Cilegon City, Banten, on Monday. Director General of Promotion and Utilisation of Overseas Job Opportunities at the Ministry for the Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (P2MI), Dwi Setiawan Susanto, stated in Cilegon on Monday that integration with vocational education institutions like SMK is key to producing skilled workers. “SMK, vocational, and even university graduates now see overseas as a promising career alternative. We are heading towards an era where our productive young people have skills that are highly sought after across countries,” Dwi said. Dwi explained that developed countries are currently facing an ageing population phenomenon, making them in great need of a supply of skilled workers from countries with a demographic bonus like Indonesia. Opportunities for SMK graduates are wide open in various sectors, ranging from healthcare, manufacturing, hospitality, and construction, to specialised welding skills which are recognised as having high value and appreciation abroad. To realise this ‘SMK Go Global’ vision, KP2MI stressed the importance of thorough preparation starting from school. “Preparation is not only about hard skills or technical aspects, but the most important things are language and mental attitude. I see that SMK students have already started learning Japanese, which is a very good step,” he said. Through this integrated preparation, the reach of SMK graduates is no longer limited to Asian countries like Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, but also extends to the European continent. Dwi mentioned that KP2MI has just opened agreements for the hospitality and healthcare sectors in Germany, and is targeting other European countries such as Austria, Italy, and Spain. Furthermore, Dwi is optimistic that the programme for sending skilled vocational graduate workers can increase the absorption of migrant workers from Banten safely and with minimal problems. “If these SMK graduates are prepared in terms of language and technical skills, and registered through official channels (SISKO P2MI), we can target Banten’s placements to rise to 5,000 or even 10,000 workers, and most importantly, there will be zero tolerance for cases because everything goes through legal procedures,” Dwi asserted.