"We will get a demographic bonus that will peak in 2030, we will have more (people in the) productive age (group). We cannot imagine having those who are of productive age not being productive, showing no competence," Minister of Manpower, Ida Fauziyah, said while signing the cooperation agreement on BLK Community Assistance Phase I of 2020, at an event held at her ministry in Jakarta on Tuesday.
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Human resource development is one of President Joko Widodo's priority programs, and one way to achieve it is to increase vocational training through the construction of community BLKs, the minister noted.
The community BLK program was launched in 2017 to complement the soft skills and character education imparted to students at religious education institutions with the provision of additional skills or hard skills.
Between 2017 and 2019, the Ministry of Manpower set up 1,113 community BLKs across Indonesia to support government-owned BLKs in 15 provinces. The initial plan for 2020 was to build two thousand community BLKs, but due to COVID-19, the target has been revised to one thousand BLKs, the minister said.
Institutions that receive community BLK assistance will get financing for the construction of workshop building units and equipment for vocational training. In 2020, 24 vocational training courses were developed at community BLKs.
“Hopefully, this event will be the first step in our real commitment to participate actively in accelerating the improvement of Indonesian HR competencies," the minister said.
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Translator: Prisca T, Azis Kurmala
Editor: Gusti Nur Cahya Aryani
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