President Prabowo Subianto Wants Strengthening of Vocational Education and Integrated Schools
JAKARTA - President Prabowo Subianto held a limited meeting (ratas) with a number of ministers of the Red and White Cabinet at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, Wednesday, November 5.
One of the things discussed is accelerating poverty alleviation. President Prabowo Subianto emphasized the importance of the education sector as the key in breaking the chain of poverty.
President Prabowo Subianto gave directions for the poverty alleviation strategy to be focused on two major steps, namely strengthening vocational education and integrated school development at the sub-district level.
Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture (Menko PMK) Pratikno explained that strengthening vocational education is the government's top priority to ensure that national education graduates have competencies that suit the needs of the world of work, both at home and abroad.
Pratikno explained, President Prabowo asked the world of education not only to prepare technical capabilities, but also to provide students with foreign language skills and cross-cultural understanding.
This is important to support the competitiveness of Indonesian workers. In addition to vocational education, President Prabowo also assigned his staff to start designing the concept of an integrated school in each sub-district.
This model is expected to be a holistic education center that combines SD, SMP, SMA, and SMK levels in one area with complete facilities, from science laboratories, vocational workshops, to art and sports facilities.
In the new concept, President Prabowo also expands the orientation of education so that it does not only focus on science and technology, but also includes arts and sports.
Pratikno added that most integrated schools would not be built from scratch, but rather the results of the transformation of existing schools. This pattern follows the success of the Garuda Superior School model which is currently being run by the government.