Empowering Youth: Indonesia's School to Work Transition Strategy Against Unemployment

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TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Minister of Manpower (Menaker) Yassierli stated that the School to Work Transition program is designed to reduce the number of young unemployed individuals. He revealed that the program will be conducted in a hybrid form, combining face-to-face (offline) and online activities.

"This program will be carried out massively with a hybrid scheme, orchestrated by the Ministry of Manpower through 303 government-owned Job Training Centers (Balai Latihan Kerja/BLK) and 2,421 private Vocational Training Institutions (Lembaga Pelatihan Kerja/LPK)," said Yassierli in Jakarta on Monday, May 5, 2025, as quoted from Antara. So, what is the School to Work Transition?

Introducing the School to Work Transition Program

Yassierli explained that the School to Work Transition is a national-scale integration program of training and apprenticeship designed to reduce youth unemployment. He mentioned that the program will be launched by the Ministry of Manpower through cross-ministerial and institutional cooperation (K/L).

The School to Work Transition targets vocational high school (SMK) graduates, considering that the highest unemployment rate is in the 19-24 age range. Data also shows that SMK graduates contribute the largest proportion of unemployment compared to other educational levels.

Furthermore, there is a mismatch between educational majors and industry needs, where some majors produce above-average unemployment rates. Furthermore, Yassierli stated that the focus of the School to Work Transition program is the development of a series of future skills, such as internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), and industrial electronics.

The School to Work Transition program will also be integrated with soft skills training, foreign languages, and entrepreneurship, and aims to address inequality and mismatch with industry needs. The priority themes in the Ministry of Manpower's program include smart creative IT skills, smart operation, agroforestry, and green jobs.

"We want these themes to be our flagship training this year. And we need cooperation with cross-ministerial institutions to execute this," said Yassierli.

Previously, the Ministry of Manpower and the Ministry of Education and Culture (Kemendikdasmen) officially signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) regarding the synergy of labor development programs with basic and secondary education. Yassierli revealed that the cooperation is the initial step in aligning the education sector with industry needs, especially through the school to work transition scheme.

According to Yassierli, the main challenge faced today is to ensure that graduates are truly prepared to enter the workforce. One of the Ministry of Manpower's focuses is to design the School to Work Transition program in line with technological developments, especially in digitalization and IT, to meet the competencies needed for future jobs.

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