Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has made improving the Indonesian workforce a focal point in his presidency, stating that investing into human resource development is the key to competing with other nations.

One of the programs in this effort is focused on the communities of Islamic boarding schools, at which the government initiated a program to establish training centers.

"Next year, we're planning to build at least 1,000 training centers at Islamic boarding schools, complete with all the necessary facilities," Jokowi said during the sixth national conference of the Alumni Association of the Indonesian Muslim Students Movement at the JS Luwansa Hotel in Jakarta on Friday (20/07).

As a pilot project in 2016, the Ministry of Manpower built training centers at 50 boarding schools, 75 more were established in 2018. There are more than 29,000 Islamic boarding schools in Indonesia.

The president said that 40 microbanks have been built at various boarding schools. More are to come next year, if the program shows positive results.

During the same occasion, Nahdlatul Ulama chairman Said Agil Siradj said the responsibility of improving human welfare falls upon the government and the organizations affiliated with it.

Source: http://jakartaglobe.id/news/govt-establishes-training-centers-microbanks-islamic-boarding-schools/