An education system that encourages creativity and innovation is the key to creating more competitive economies and bridging the gap between developed and developing nations, a seminar heard Wednesday.
"Indonesia is a country rich in natural resources, but in terms of human resources, we still have plenty of work to catch up with other developed countries," Vice President Jusuf Kalla said in his opening speech of the two-day Asia Human Resources Congress in Jakarta.
Kalla said the distinguishing factor between rich and poor countries, developed and developing countries, was their people.
At least 500 human resource professionals, including 150 international participants, are attending the congress. It features 47 domestic and international speakers, including Kalla and State Minister of State Enterprises Sofyan Djalil.
Sofyan said that to be able to compete with other countries, nations like Indonesia needed people who could create added value in their work.
"The problem here is that our education system still doesn't accommodate creativity as many schools still implement lecture-like, one-way learning systems."
The country needs to equip its people with technical competency, which includes comprehensive and continued training to help form creative people, Sofyan added.
Sofyan's office oversees a total of 140 state companies, many of them in bad financial shape in part due to inadequate human resources.
The government has proposed the education budget be increased from Rp 48 trillion this year to around Rp 51 trillion in 2009. This year's education budget allocation accounts for 11.2 percent of the total state budget, lower than the minimum 20 percent required by the Constitution.
Kalla said that while the budget for education would need to be continuously increased, fostering cooperation between nations, in particular in Asia, would also help improve the competency of human resources and ensure the transfer of knowledge.
"If that happens, it could help bridge the gap between Asian countries," he said, adding that if we let the gap grow bigger, it could eventually trigger instability in the region.
The congress is the second, with Kuala Lumpur having hosted the first two years ago. Jointly organized by training and consulting organizations PPM Management and SMR Group Malaysia, it was themed "Leading Human Capital, Leading Organizations".
This year's congress, with a theme of "Excellent Organizations Start with Excellent Human Resources", includes management workshops on human capital, competency, talent and employer brand.
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