March 2009 Special Tackling the Education and Skills Editorial Training Challenges in Indonesia By Dr. Bambang Widianto and towards more productive and formal jobs and (c) Deputy Minister for the Evaluation of improving the welfare of workers who are presently working Development Performance in less productive jobs (as an interim measure). As part of Ministry of State for National Development Planning - BAPPENAS facilitating the movement of young people from the informal to the formal market, education and skills training play a The Republic of Indonesia is a labour surplus crucial role. Young Indonesians need the right mix of core economy with 70 per cent of the workforce employed in the work skills and technical skills to fit in the formal labour informal economy, and 55% of it composed of unskilled market, and to benefit from the growing national economy. labourers. Youth unemployment is high with respectively 36.7 per cent and 23 per cent for the age groups 15-19 and 20-24. Unemployment among persons with junior high school or lower level of education is at an alarming 44.45 per cent. This situation requires not only investment and the creation of new job opportunities but an increased access to technical and vocational education in order to enhance the employability of young women and men through demand driven skills training. Indonesia is confronted with the following challenges when wanting to achieve decent work for youth: (a) creating more jobs in the formal economy, (b) facilitating a movement of the workforce away from less productive jobs Inside this issue: Core work skills are skills that are needed in all professions, and are critical for the employability of every Tackling the Education and Skills Training person. These include but are not limited to functional Challenges in Indonesia 1 literacy, numeracy, communication, information processing, EAST join hand with the private sector to negotiation, problem solving, self management, team work revitalize the TVET system in Papua and Aceh 3 and learning skills. These skills are also very much linked to a positive attitude towards the world of work. Too often the zzz Training for school counselors in NAD 4 Entrepreneurship on the rise in Nusa Tengara Timur! 5 ILO EAST is a four years project funded by the Skills Trainings for Jobs in South Sulawesi 6 Government of Netherlands and executed by the International Labour Organization that aims (a) at Making it Happen: delivering EAST services in Maluku 6 improving the employability and capacity for entrepreneurship among young women and men Using the Teacher’s Manual on Preventing through improved access to high-quality and Drop-Out and Child Labour in Jayapura, Papua 7 relevant educational and training opportunities, and Shelf Life (Manuals and Tools) 4 (b) at contributing to the elimination of child labour. 1 SPECIAL EDITION zzz lack of understanding and knowledge of the labour market, occupations. It even has an impact in terms of social and of a positive attitude towards the world of work makes dialogue and collective bargaining, because a well designed the school to work transition of Indonesian youth an certification system would provide for greater transparency unnecessarily painful moment of their lives. of skills levels and related gains of productivity. A worker would then be able to prove his/her competence and a The Indonesian education system has worked to equip potential employer to take into account a recognized the youth with life skills / core work skills in junior and senior certificate for any job-related decision. high schools. More remains to be done however in terms of (a) providing these core work skills in a systematic way The ambitious objectives mentioned above require across all the existing range of educational institutions, both close consultation between the relevant ministries – the formal and non formal, as well as technical and vocational Ministry of National Education and the Ministry of Manpower training institutions, (b) giving the youth the right and Transmigration - and between these ministries and the information support to make informed job and education private sector, both at policy and at grass roots levels. We related decisions (for instance through the School also want to promote life long approach to training, i.e. (a) Counselors). adopting at policy and methodological level a comprehensive view on the education and training services provided to The Technical and Vocational Education and Training Indonesian youth, with a special focus on possible gaps and (TVET) system needs to be revitalized. The establishment of overlaps, (b) facilitating the school to work transition with a standard setting organization, BNSP, to define increased information about the world of work shared in the competencies, has been an important step in that direction. schools, (c) ensuring increased access to former trainees and We have now to ensure that (a) skills taught are the ones in students to other learning opportunities to learn some new demand, (b) training reflect the competencies defined by skills on demand on the market. BNSP, (c) certification spells out clearly the skills of the trainee. The EAST project tackles many of the aspects mentioned above and BAPPENAS looks at it as an important A proper certification system is core to this laboratory where innovative methodologies and tools can programme, as it promotes greater mobility of the be tested for future possible replication. We are looking workforce between firms, between regions, and between forward to the positive learning outcomes of this project. Training for school counselors in NAD 85% of the high school students in Aceh enter School counseling has not been prioritized for long in directly the limited job market after graduation, with neither terms of teachers training, and counselors were an adequate understanding of the labour market demand, appreciative of the methodology proposed and of the nor the core work skills to apply successfully to jobs. In this contents of the manual focusing on how to make an context, Job and Education Counseling is very crucial at senior high school level to empower students to make education and career choices that reflect both the labour Counseling is very crucial at senior market realities and their specific skills. Focused counseling high school level to empower in senior high schools can play an important role in reducing information asymmetries, and facilitate school to work students to make education and transition. career choices that reflect both As part of the EAST project, ten provincial master the labour market realities and trainers from Aceh were trained in September 2008 by P4TK their specific skills. Penjas and BK (a national teachers training center on school counseling) in Parung, Bogor, based on an innovative education or a job decision. As put by one of the school manual put together by ILO and this center. Together with teachers “some of us have already received psycho-social Yayasan Nusantara Indah (YNI), these master trainers trained training earlier, but none of us have ever received training so far 132 school counselors in Banda Aceh and Pidie on career counseling. We do not have any earlier experience districts, out of 466 school counselors to be trained in eight on career counseling before. This training is a great step districts of Aceh province. In turn, these counselors will forward for school counselors to be able to provide better provide services to 19,000 students of formal schools and career counseling services linked to the world of work”. non-formal education programmes in the province. (Pandji Putranto, Provincial Programme Coordinator NAD). 2 GO EAST !! EAST joins hands with the private sector to revitalize the TVET system in Papua and Aceh ILO EAST together with private corporations / to give the trainees the opportunity to practice more than training centres have initiated On the Job Training courses one time any specific task. for BLKI (Vocational Training Institutes) management staff Late in October these same welding instructors also and instructors as part of EAST activities to support the joined intensive welding courses at the German affiliated revitalization of the Indonesian Technical and Vocational training institute, Inlastek, in Solo. The BLKI Sorong Education System (TVET) system. During the last quarter of instructors began mid November on basic welding 2008, instructors from BLKI Papua and BLKI Sorong were techniques for plate and pipes and they were joined by the placed in private companies and training centers, in order to BLKI Papua instructors early December for the more upgrade their technical skills, and get exposure of latest advanced areas of Mig/Mag, welding inspection and ultra technologies used. sonic testing. The returning instructors have a much wider IPN (Institut Pertembangan Nemangkawi) is the skill and competency range than before these training training arm of PT Freeport, the massive gold and copper experiences. ILO will now be seeking to have the instructors mining company located in the Mimika district of Papua. IPN tested for certification in various aspects of welding. accepted five welding instructors from BLKI Papua and BLKI PT Daya Pioneer International, the Jakarta based Sorong for a six week on-the-job training activity, as part of licensee for Pioneer, Johnson and Evinrude marine engines their IPN Corporate Social Responsibility programme (CSR). provided a three week On the Job Training for the marine IPN’s training workshop for welding is adjacent to its huge engine instructor of BLKI Jayapura as part of Pioneer’s welding production workshop. The BLKI instructors were Corporate Social Responsibility activities. The instructor now also able to get direct work exposure in the production has the competency to train students in tuning and repair of workshops. IPN also hosted the metal workshop instructor of Pioneer, Johnson and Evinrude marine engines in addition BLKI Jayapura. The metal workshop instructor traveled to to his original Mercury engine knowledge.