"The establishment of community vocational training center in pesantren is because pesantren graduates are still being compared with other school graduates," she said in a statement received here on Saturday.
The presence of vocational training centers at Islamic boarding schools is expected to increase pesantren graduates' employability, she added.
While inaugurating a vocational training center at the Salafiyah Annahdliyah Maftahul Uluum Islamic Boarding School, Blitar, East Java, Fauziyah said that people are right in sending their children to pesantren for education.
Pesantren education emphasizes strengthening soft skills in students, she added.
Pesantren students also need to maximize their hard skills, she said.
"The government continues to boost hard skill training to equip pesantren students with skills," she added.
The vocational training center at Maftahul Uluum Islamic Boarding School was founded in 2022 and offers an informatics engineering program.
After opening the center, Minister Fauziyah visited the Pertakina Community Vocational Training Center, which was founded in 2021.
The Pertakina center offers junior administrative assistant training, a Japanese language course for prospective Indonesian migrant workers, and a Japanese language competency level N4 course.
Fauziyah said that the community vocational training center is part of the government's efforts to increase the competence of the workforce that builds links with and meets the demands of the job market.
She added that the training center was initiated by the President in 2017 to bring training centers closer to people living in rural areas.
In addition to increasing the number of training centers, the government is also ensuring their sustainability to turn them into independent and professional training institutions.
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Translator: Zubi M, Kenzu
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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