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JAKARTA. President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo spent time learning about the “dual training system”, a job-oriented education program praised as an effective way to tackle unemployment, during his working visit to Germany on Monday.
In the dual training system, students are required to learn at two places, at school and in the industrial sector. This process synergizes education with industry.
Jokowi visited a vocational education training center in Siemenstadt, a city built by Siemens AG, the largest engineering company in Europe, to explore the system.
Some EU countries have implemented Germany’s vocational education system to overcome unemployment. Brazil, Russia and the US are specifically interested in adopting the dual training system, which involves cooperation with local partners in the respective countries.
During Jokowis visit, Siemensstadt Vocational Educational Training Center senior director Thomas Leubner explained how vocational education was based on several principles, including cooperation between government and industry. He said government and industry were responsible for formulating and designing the vocational education framework, while control over the training was delegated to an institution called Industrie und Handelskammer (Chamber of Commerce and Industry).
Thomas further said the quality of the vocational school was guaranteed through the implementation of educational standards.
Meanwhile, vocational educators must master and understand the concept of berufspädagogik, or vocational pedagogy.
The availability of research institutions and consulting careers are necessary for students to find out what is growing in the industrialized world.
Siemens Training Center offers vocational education at 41 locations across Germany with 10,000 participants and investment of 187 million Euros a year. Siemens is the biggest dual training organizer in Germany. Each year, the company generates around 2,000 graduates ready to meet industry needs. (Ayomi Amindoni)
