Jakarta, The Indonesia Post – The Indonesian government sent 2,000 interns to Japan as a strategic effort to encourage increased competency of the workforce.
Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said the government had established bilateral cooperation in providing apprenticeship facilities.
“Apprenticeship is a mainstay for Indonesia to increase competence, because young people who do internships will learn in their respective industries, of course with world standards, especially Japan, where most of its products are exported abroad and have high standards,” said Coordinating Minister Airlangga when releasing 2,000 internship participants to Japan via official statement in Jakarta, Thursday.
Furthermore, Coordinating Minister Airlangga said that the Overseas Internship Program could provide benefits for both countries.
Through this program, participants are able to understand the best work practices that have been implemented in developed countries. For apprenticeship destination countries, the benefits obtained are in the form of the availability of competent labor to encourage economic productivity.
It is hoped that through good apprenticeship activities we can create graduates with competencies according to the needs of the business and industrial world, and able to compete at the global level.
In the 2020-2024 National Medium Term Development Plan (RPJMN), the government has also targeted more than 20 thousand people to take part in overseas apprenticeship programs.
As of June 2023, the number of apprenticeship participants that have been realized is 15,031 participants, with the number of active apprenticeship participants in Japan amounting to 39 thousand people.
Of this number, more than 8 thousand alumni have established independent businesses, ranging from small to medium scale.
“Efforts to increase HR competency that have been carried out by the government in order to maximize the potential of the demographic bonus need to continue to be supported, with collaboration and cooperation from various parties from the public, private sectors, training institutions, to the community,” said Coordinating Minister Airlangga.
Coordinating Minister Airlangga added that the government is currently continuing to provide support for the entrepreneurial sector, one of which is by providing easy and cheap access to financing through People’s Business Credit (KUR).
On this occasion, Coordinating Minister Airlangga also symbolically handed over Independent Business Assistance to representatives of apprenticeship alumni worth IDR 100 million.
“I hope that this cooperation can be improved, and that all participants can be given their rights and given protection while undergoing an apprenticeship program in Japan,” he concluded.
Currently, Indonesia continues to encourage optimal use of the demographic bonus through increasing human resource (HR) competency.
According to data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), in February 2023 as many as 211.59 million people were of working age and 146.62 million of them were in the workforce.
Apart from that, Indonesia also experienced a decrease in the open unemployment rate in February 2023, from 5.83 percent to 5.45 percent. (mhn/bbs)
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