Article 33 Indonesia's second public discussion related to the Vocational School studies carried out in 2019 was conducted online this time. The Public Discussion Webinar Series: REVIEWING THE FUTURE OF VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS IN THE POST-COVID-19 ECONOMIC SHOCK was conducted via an online meeting application on Wednesday, 20 May 2020. This discussion was led by Lukman Hakim, senior researcher at Article 33 Indonesia, as discussion moderator. Article 33 Indonesia presents Dr. Ir. M. Bakrun, MM (Director of Vocational High Schools, KEMENDIKBUD) as the government representative in providing a point of view regarding the discussion theme, Mrs. Petra W. Bodrogini (education researcher), and Mr. Faisal Basri (economic observer). This public discussion webinar was attended by around 90 participants (due to participants' connections sometimes being connected and disconnected, the number of participants increased and decreased at any time), most of whom were principals of vocational schools and vocational school teachers from all over Indonesia.
The first presenter, Mrs. Petra (education researcher), presented data regarding the general description of the vocational school education system in Indonesia during the COVID-19 pandemic. She also explained data on sectors affected by the pandemic which could affect the employment of vocational school graduates, especially 2020 graduates. Several things emphasized by Mrs. Petra included the challenges and opportunities for schools, vocational school students and vocational school graduates during the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the challenges that is greatly influenced by pandemic conditions is linking and matching with related industries. Uncertain economic conditions during the pandemic can cause industries to close opportunities for job seekers. Apart from that, online learning carried out by vocational school students cannot necessarily accommodate students' learning needs optimally, especially in terms of practical work in laboratories/workshops or work practice in industry. However, on the other hand, vocational schools have opportunities, among other things, to improve systems and programs and strengthen existing curricula as a response to changes occurring as a result of the pandemic. Apart from that, Vocational Schools also have the opportunity to open programs for students who have dropped out or employees who have been laid off for online upskilling and reskilling. At the end of her presentation, Mrs. Petra stimulated discussion by delivering material regarding the implementation of the school reopening framework for vocational schools which is divided into 3 stages; (1) prior to reopening, (2) part of reopening process, and (3) with schools reopening (UNICEF, UNESCO, World Bank, WFP, 2020). The presentation closed with recommendations for mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic from Article 33 Indonesia presented by Mrs. Petra, emphasizing supply and demand between vocational schools and the business and industrial world (DUDI).
The next resource person who provided material was Dr. Ir. M. Bakrun, MM as Director of Vocational School Development, KEMENDIKBUD. He began his presentation by explaining the President's direction regarding the acceleration of development of superior human resources for 2020-2024, which consists of 5 main points, namely (1) character education, (2) technological empowerment, (3) investment and innovation, (4) job creation, and (5) deregulation and debureaucratization. Then the presentation continued with a discussion of policy direction and refocusing of vocational school development. In this section, Mr. Bakrun explains the shift in the "employment" paradigm for vocational school graduates, one of which is by preparing vocational school graduates to be creative and independent in filling and creating digital skilled job opportunities. This happened because we saw opportunities for vocational school students and graduates to be independent through digital platforms and online marketplaces, and supported these opportunities by filling learning in vocational schools with creativepreneurs, agripreneurs, technopreneurs, sociopreneurs and ecopreneurs. Finally, Mr. Bakrun closed by providing an explanation regarding the policy for implementing vocational school education during the COVID-19 response period. Three important points in this explanation are (1) practical learning which is currently still running online but will return to offline learning after the COVID-19 emergency period ends, (2) PKL/Practical Field Work carried out by students but sent home by the party DUDI considers that the remainder have already done PKL, while students who have not done PKL activities will be replaced, among other things, with project work, entrepreneurship or job orientation, as well as regarding (3) competency tests for 2019/2020 vocational school graduates related to the deadline for meeting LSP-P1 , LSP-P3, other certification bodies, as well as competency tests from DU/DI.
Mr. Faisal Basri gave a final explanation regarding the challenges of post-COVID-19 vocational schools from an economic perspective. The explanation begins with a general description of economic conditions in Indonesia, an explanation of the growth rate of the business/industrial sector, population size based on employment, and the unemployment rate, especially youth unemployment. This condition is slowly being linked to the current conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic where quite a few businesses/industries are laying off their workers. Then the presentation of the material continued with a discussion of vocational education in Indonesia. Mr. Faisal described a picture of vocational education in Germany which could be an example of best practices to be adapted to vocational education in Indonesia. Apart from that, he provided an overview of the comparison of social mobility between countries related to the level of education and employment of the population, where in the data shown Indonesia is in a low ranking. The explanation continued with a presentation regarding Indonesia's condition in facing the COVID-19 pandemic. He showed data related to the highest number of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia seen from provinces, as well as data on the number of health workers (number of doctors and nurses) and the number of hospital beds in Indonesia. Based on data and Mr. Faisal's presentation, Indonesia does not have many health workers to provide services per 1,000 people. Apart from that, he also emphasized that the number of doctors and nurses in areas with the main destination of returning home is below the national average. Likewise, the number of hospital beds in areas that are usually homecoming destinations is still below the national average. The presentation of this data stimulates discussions regarding the choice of vocational school majors and the employment of vocational school graduates which can be useful during times such as the COVID-19 pandemic.