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Students in Manokwari, West Papua. The partnership program with companies would help vocational schools produce graduates with certified competencies and skills that meet the demands of the industrial sector (Antara/Toyiban)

Twenty-two companies have signed an agreement on a strategic partnership program with vocational high schools in Papua and West Papua, according to a top official from the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture.

The agreement would boost efforts to strengthen the linkage between industries with vocational high schools in the two easternmost provinces, said Ahmad Saufi, director of partnership and linkage with companies and industries at the ministry's vocational education directorate, in Sorong city, West Papua on Saturday.

"Through this partnership, a link and match program can be strengthened,” he remarked.

The cooperation would help produce vocational school graduates with certified competencies and skills that meet the demands of the industrial sector, he said.The partnering companies and associations include PT Intan Marine Product Development, PT Alam Papua, PT Medco Papua, PT Astra, PT Freeport Indonesia, Petrosea Tbk, BTM Al-Hijrah Sorong, CV Asli Papua Konsulindo, and the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI/Sorong chapter).

They also include PT Cobota, PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (Inalum), PT Panca Duta Karya (Sorong), Swiss-Belhotel (Sorong), PT Bank Papua Sorong, PT BNI 46 Tbk. (Sorong branch), PT Telkom Indonesia, Bank Mandiri (Sorong branch), PT Trakindo Sorong, Rumah BUMN BNI, West Papua's National Development Partnership Agency (LPKN), PT Salawati Motorindo (Sorong), and PT Pelayaran Belibis Papua Mandiri.

The development of human resources in Papua and West Papua remains a challenge. The Human Development Index scores of the two provinces lag behind other Indonesian provinces, with Papua and West Papua scoring 64.7 and 60.84, respectively, on Indonesia's 2019 Human Development Index.To improve the quality of human capital in Papua and West Papua, the Indonesian Finance Ministry has suggested that the regional governments allocate an endowment fund to finance human resource development and the education of native Papuans.

The fund can be allocated from Papua province's annual budget, director of the Finance Ministry's Endowment Fund for Education (LPDP) Scholarship Program, Dwi Larso, stated.

The Papuan administration could adopt a similar endowment fund for education as the LPDP to support its human resources development efforts//ANT