South Korea helps Indonesian vocational schools

South Korea helps Indonesian vocational schools

Novan Iman Santosa
The Jakarta Post/Bangkok

The Indonesian government is working with South Korea and several
other countries to provide training centers that will link
vocational students to industries, an official said.

The Ministry of National Education's Director of Technical and
Vocational Education Gatot Hari Priowirjanto told The Jakarta
Post that South Korea had agreed to establish the centers for
automotive, IT, manufacturing and tourism.

A Thai vocational university has also agreed to an exchange of
students and lecturers with Indonesia, he said.

Gatot was in Bangkok to take part in a United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
meeting on vocational education, where he met Colombo Plan Staff
College for Technician Education's director general Park Man-gon
of South Korea.

"Dr. Park agreed to facilitate cooperation between Indonesia
and South Korea, including the provision of a joint training
institution with South Korean industry," Gatot said on Wednesday.

"This will allow our vocational students to gain work
experience at South Korean factories as well as more knowledge of
Korean culture."

An initial agreement has also been struck with the Korean
University of Technology on an exchange of lecturers, Gatot
added.

He said that a close link with industries was the only way to
ensure a strong vocational education system.

"Sometimes there are simply not enough teachers for certain
kinds of study, such as animation and broadcasting. In such
cases, we'll ask professional animators or broadcasters to
provide the modules for students and teach them," he said.

A teacher's presence is not necessary, as a class could be
conducted through video conferencing via satellite, according to
Gatot.

"Currently we lease 8 megahertz of bandwidth, using only one-
quarter of a Telkom satellite's transponder to transmit our
distance learning materials.

"The materials are not only on vocational skills but also on
subjects such as mathematics and English, which are also taught
at schools and in the surrounding community," said Gatot.

Indonesia has about 5,800 vocational high schools with more
than 100 subjects.

The ministry has introduced long-distance learning through 100
vocational schools in five regencies and mayoralties. The number
of towns will be increased to 25 by the end of this month and to
40 by the end of this year, Gatot said.

Minister of National Education Bambang Sudibyo is scheduled to
officially launch satellite-based distance learning in Tahuna,
Sangihe Talaud Island in North Sulawesi, at the end of this
month.

The project costs about Rp 260 billion (US$26.8 million),
almost a quarter of the amount required to fund a pure satellite-
based system, in which all schools get a satellite dish, a
receiver and a TV.

To save money, the ministry uses relay antennas to transmit
materials from designated schools up to a radius of 25
kilometers.

"This way students from other schools and residents around the
designated schools can also benefit from our distance learning
program. All they have to do is tune into the distance learning
channels."

The ministry plans to increase the bandwidth to four
transponders with a capacity of 72 megahertz of which 24
megahertz will be used for the distance learning channels and the
remainder for Internet connection.