Trainees demand jobs in Korea

Trainees demand jobs in Korea

JAKARTA: Students of a vocational school in Cianjur, West Java, have turned to the National Commission on Human Rights for help in their dispute with the school's management, which they say has failed to keep its promise to place them in jobs in South Korea.

Around 50 students, who said they represented more than 1,700 of their others, told the commission on Tuesday that they had each paid Rp 1 million ($490) to PT Binawan Group, which operates the school.

Their lawyer, Yudhi Junaidi, said that most of the students were promised high paying jobs in South Korea after the completion of a one-month training period.

That was back in August, and most of them are still waiting for the promised jobs, Yudhi said.

Ari, one of the students, said they had tried to get their money back from the school but they had been offered only half the amount paid. He added that the school had so far sent only 40 students to South Korea.

Saleh Alwaini, president of PT Binawan Group, denied most of the students' claims.

"We've sent 311 students to South Korea to date," he told The Jakarta Post.

"We will continue our program to send them to South Korea," he said, adding that the company would gladly return all the money to the students. (imn)