Vocational Education Quality

KOMPAS/HENDRA A SETYAWAN

Fachri Muzaki, a student at Bogor’s SMK 1 Ciomas vocational senior high school, develops an animated film character on 13 Feb. 2019 during the 2019 National Education and Culture Consultation at the Education and Culture Ministry’s Education and Training Center in Depok, West Java. Revitalizing vocational education programs to match the technological and other needs of businesses is one way to improve the quality of Indonesia’s human resources.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has reiterated the importance of improving the quality of Indonesian human resources through vocational education programs.

The President’s affirmation should be appreciated and should become a joint commitment. This commitment must also be supported by the awareness that vocational education should be a concrete effort towards improving the quality of human resources at secondary schools.

The level of education prepares students for working in their respective fields. Therefore, a responsive and anticipatory approach towards technological advancements is necessary at the vocational education level.

We are grateful that society no longer underestimates vocational education. Student interest in enrolling at vocational schools is relatively high in a number of regions. This is reflected in the number of vocational senior high schools (SMK) and the their student populations in the country.

To cite data from the Education and Culture Ministry in 2018-2019, the country has 14,064 SMK, comprising 3,578 state schools and 10,486 private schools. Vocational senior high schools have enrolled 1.76 million new students and have a combined student population of 5,009,265. This significantly large number and requires our attention.

Unfortunately, the students’ high interest in vocational schools has not been met with vocational programs of an ideal standard. According to the ministry’s data, only 78,169 of the 165,077 classrooms at SMK are in good condition. Most of the classrooms are damaged, from light to severe damage. An adequate number of laboratories exist, but only 73.9 percent of SMK have libraries. Even in Jakarta, only 542 of 581 SMK have libraries.

Another issue is that teacher quality does not meet expectations. Records show that only 74.3 percent of SMK teachers are qualified, including teachers who hold a class four diploma (university level) or higher.

KOMPAS/EDDY HASBY

Students at a vocational school in Surabaya, East Java, conduct an experiment on 13 March 2019 at a laboratory of the Indonesian Sugar Plantation Research Center (P3GI) in Pasuruan, East Java.

Resolving the teacher quality issue should be a priority, because it is not easy to find vocational school teachers. In fact, vocational schools would be effective if their teachers had sufficient knowledge, experience and skills in their fields. Close cooperation should thus be established with the business world to improve the quality of SMK. This cooperation is not just to ensure that students complete their vocational education, but more importantly, to learn about which skills businesses need in their workforce.

We realize that vocational schools require the latest educational facilities to train their students. These schools also have higher operational costs than regular schools. Serious commitment is therefore needed to promote vocational education. It is this seriousness that will produce quality vocational school graduates while promoting the quality of Indonesian human resources.