Human Resource Quality Genjot, Investment Palm Oil Company In The Education Sector

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Not only thinking about the price and access of the market alone, the Association of Indonesian Palm Oil Entrepreneurs (Gapki) ensured that many palm oil companies in Indonesia paid attention to the education sector. Various forms of assistance for the field of education have a goal, advancing Indonesian human resources. "Supporting education is the same as building superior human resources (HR) to move and build various sectors in Indonesia for the better," said Head of the Employment Division of the Indonesian Palm Oil Association (Gapki), Sumarjono Saragih, Friday, October 7. He outlined that assistance in the field of education was provided starting from school construction, providing scholarships directly from companies, to providing educational assistance through the Palm Plantation Fund Management Agency (BPDP). In the form of CSR, oil palm companies usually cooperate with local governments and local education offices to help improve the quality of schools around oil palm plantations. That way the children of workers and children of the community around oil palm plantations can get good education. If there is a shortage of educators, the company will help recruit new teachers and provide support for the training of teachers. Based on BPS data, there are around 16 million workers including the supply chain that depend on palm oil. Because the average is far from the city, school for workers is certainly needed. "Imagine if there are no schools around oil palm plantations, people will think a lot about working in oil palm plantations," said Sumarjono. One of the companies that manage schools in their oil palm plantation environment is Wilmar. The company allocated Rp60 billion to build 15 schools around its oil palm plantation area. Of the total 15 schools built, six schools are in West Sumatra, including Bina Agro Minang Kindergarten, Bina Agro Minang Private Elementary School, and Bina Agro Minang Middle School in Pasaman District. Wilmar also manages nine schools in Central Kalimantan managed by the Bangsa Bina Foundation. The details are kindergarten, elementary, junior high, and high school BB01 in Mentaya Hulu Utara District. There are also kindergartens, elementary schools, and BB02 junior high schools in Telawang District. TK and SD BB04 in Danau Sembuluh District. In addition, kindergartens and elementary schools in Seruyan Hilir District. Also, TK and SD BB06, Mentaya Hulu District. In addition to building educational facilities at the plantation site, the company also provides educational facilities assistance to schools around its operations. Also, providing scholarships to outstanding students. Similarly, PT Austindo Nusantara Jaya Tbk also built six schools in the Sumatran and Kalimantan plantation areas, for the PAUD and TK levels. Not only building schools, but the company is also building health facilities to prevent stunting children in plantation areas. CSR in the field of education has also been routinely carried out by a number of palm oil companies in Indonesia. Holding Perkebunan Nusantara (PTPN) companies, for example, recently built a number of study rooms at the Hidayatullah Islamic Boarding School, Dumai, Riau Province. Previously, the plantation BUMN also handed over assistance in the form of free computers and internet packages to 26 schools in Bumi Lancang Kuning. Then, PT Astra Agro Lestari Tbk, provided educational assistance in the form of scholarships and incentives for honorary teachers in a number of schools. This assistance was distributed to his fostered public schools in the sub-districts of Sarudu, Dapurang and Duripoku, Pasangkayu Regency. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, a subsidiary of the Tunas Sawa Erma (TSE) Group, PT Dongin Prabhawa (DP) also provided school supplies assistance to 380 children in the Merauke and Mappi areas, Papua. The assistance was distributed to four schools, namely SD Negeri Inpres Banamepe, SD YPK Salamepe, SD YPK Nakias and SD YPK Tagepe. Scholarship Program Meanwhile, for scholarship programs at universities, they are usually divided into two forms. Both are scholarship programs for internal oil palm companies and scholarship programs for the general public. One of them is Sinar Mas Agribution. The company will provide scholarships for students who are interested in the agribusiness industry, especially oil palm. For educational assistance, it is also channeled through one of the government-shaped institutions, namely BPDPKS. Funds collected from export proceeds, some of which are distributed in the form of various assistance to the community, especially oil palm farmers. There is also a scholarship managed by the Palm Oil Plantation Fund Management Agency (BPDPKS). Namely, the educational scholarship program for farmers' children and laborers from oil palm plantations in Indonesia and managed by BPDP. In 2022, the BDPKS provides educational assistance to 1,000 people for diplomas and strata 1 programs. The founder and Chairman of The La Tofi School of CSR, La Tofi, said that the educational assistance provided by oil palm companies is a form of investment in the field of human resources. In this way, the company will get more quality human resources to be able to work in the palm oil company. "Giving CSR in the field of education is very, very important, because education is a smart investment in the future," said La Tofi. La Tofi admits that the largest form of CSR companies currently is indeed channeled in the form of education. The calculation is about 30 percent of the company's CSR funds. The rest are channeled for economic development, construction of health services, preservation, natural disaster assistance, construction of places of worship, and others. "If human resources around plantations have good education, then they can be more productive, especially when they become workers in the company," he said.