Focus Group Discussion on Quality Apprenticeship Program with Sector Associations

Based on the Presidential Instruction No. 9/2016 on the revitalization of vocational education to improve the competitiveness and quality of workforce, five ministers signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on 29 November 2016.

Background

Based on the Presidential Instruction No. 9/2016 on the revitalization of vocational education to improve the competitiveness and quality of workforce, five ministers signed an MoU on 29 November 2016. The MoU outlined a commitment to better align competency-based vocational education and training with skills demand. The five ministries involved are the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education, the Ministry of Manpower, and the Ministry of State-owned Enterprises.

In 2016, Ministry of Manpower introduced a new regulation on Apprenticeship no. 36/2016. In 2018, a total of 8,340 apprentices from 935 companies received grant from the Ministry of Manpower to undertake National Apprentices programs. In 2019, Ministry of Manpower has set the target of a total of 410,000 persons will follow apprenticeship programs – this include the independent apprenticeship. Government has also issued regulations no. 45/2019 regarding the tax deduction for companies that hold vocational training and research which encourage more private sectors to hold apprenticeship program.

Therefore, to ensure the sustainability of the quality apprenticeship program, ILO and Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs will hold focus group discussion to seek the opportunities and challenges to involve sector associations to coordinate and monitor the implementation of quality apprenticeship. The FGD will focus on five prioritized sectors which are tourism and hospitality, manufacture, agribusiness, healthcare and e-commerce. Whilst migrant workers sectors will be include in all sectors.

Objectives

The objectives of the focus group discussion are as follows:
  1. Sharing good practices of sector association in quality apprenticeship program (using retail association as example);
  2. Gather information on the implementation of quality apprenticeship (lesson learned and challenges) based on sectors;
  3. Gather inputs on the opportunities to implement quality apprenticeship based on sector association.