VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

A screenshot of President Joko Widodo speaking at an academic event at Sebelas Maret University, Surakarta city, Central Java province, on Friday (March 11, 2022). (ANTARA/Gilang Galiartha/uyu) - 

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has said that Indonesia only has two years to expedite human resources (HR) development to capitalize on the demographic bonus in the period from 2030 to 2035.

"Do we dare to change during these two years? Otherwise, we will not be able to optimize the demographic bonus in 2030–2035. We will retard if we do not immediately change," he remarked at an academic event at Sebelas Maret University, Surakarta city, Central Java province, on Friday.

During the next two years, all educational institutions in Indonesia will be challenged to transform to provide better education services since rapid developments in science must be followed up with dynamic education programs and research, he noted.

Thus, digital human resources development is one of the aspects which must be prioritized and expedited, he said.

In addition, the development of artificial intelligence, cloud computing, digital design, digital marketing, and digital blockchain is also required to be accelerated, he added.

The President then expressed his support for Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Minister Nadiem Makarim’s attempt to implement the Free of Learning in Campus (Kampus Merdeka) program.

He said he expected the program to be one of the factors to accelerate human resource development to optimize the utilization of the demographic bonus.

He lauded the program, which has provided a lot of opportunities to college students to take up internships and certified independent study directly with industrial and business actors for one semester.

“Hence, currently, the industry has become a part of the university,” he remarked.

The Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Ministry is also providing matching funds, he noted.

The government is targeting to get 10 thousand industrial practitioners to collaborate with universities across Indonesia to expedite the educational transformation, he said.

In addition to attending the academic event, he inaugurated the university’s Ki Hadjar Dewantara Building on Friday//ANT