President Joko Widodo’s (Jokowi’s) grand vision to create human resources with skills aligning with the needs of the industry or business world should be realized through vocational education, the Presidential Staff Office (KSP) stated.
The vision of parallel relationship between education and manpower is also known as “link and match”.
“To realize this vision, the KSP continues to encourage the development of the training program that has been provided,” KSP’s Chief Expert, Fadjar Dwi Wishnuwardhani, stated during his visit to the Kendari Vocational Training Center (BLK), Southeast Sulawesi, as quoted from the written statement received here on Thursday.
Wishnuwardhani believes that the training program can be expanded by inking as many memoranda of understanding (MoU) as possible between the government and industry.
According to Wishnuwardhani, the manifestation of “link and match” between vocational and industrial programs will yield graduates that are reliable and possess skills in accordance with the requirements of the labor market.
The efforts correlate with the expected objectives of the vocational programs, so that the industry can draw more domestic labor.
On that occasion, Wishnuwardhani also lauded the Skill Development Center (SDC) in Kendari that has been operating.
However, he noted that the vocational program running since 2019 still needed support from the local government, both in terms of the budget and regulation.
“Coordination and communication need to be improved, so that SCD can be improved. Moreover, it also needs a clear budget allocation and legal protection,” he explained.
In response to his aspiration, the Kendari regional secretary, Nahwa Umar, spoke of the Kendari city government optimizing budget allocation from the regional budget (APBD) to develop SCD.
“We will also increase support if there is a supplementary budget from the centre. We also need directions from the KSP to improve coordination to become more organized,” Umar expounded.
Meanwhile, the Kendari Vocational Training Center is a place for implementing and expanding the skill developing program. Currently, it has 12 vocational majors, with 14 programs, such as electronics, welding, garment, Information and Communication Technology, and automotive.
Kendari BLK is also planning to have in place a program that teaches ways to operate heavy equipment based on the demand from one of the nickel mining companies in Southeast Sulawesi.
Source: Antara News