R

acket producers in Klayatan village, Malang, have called on the central government to include badminton in the school curriculum in a bid to help maintain the industry.

Despite positive impacts from various badminton tournaments, their business fluctuated because after the tournaments business usually slowed down again.

"Including badminton in school curriculums would guarantee work for racket makers and thousands of people here, because orders for rackets could be guaranteed," Iwan, the producer of Butterfly brand badminton rackets, said recently.

Another producer, Dadang Prayoga, 39, producer of Aero and Atlanta brand rackets, shared a similar opinion.

"Such a move *to put badminton in the national curriculum* could also net new badminton talents in Indonesia," said Dadang, who supplies products to various cities including Surabaya, Surakarta, Jakarta and Medan.

"Many people would benefit if the government included badminton in the national education curriculum, as it could minimize unemployment because each producer would employ an average of 10 workers, so 150 producers would hire at least 1,500 workers," he said.

"The government should be concerned and pay attention to the fate of racket producers here, because many people depend on this industry," Dadang said.

Klayatan is home to around 150 cottage industries producing badminton rackets.

Of these, around one-fifth are seasonal producers. The more orders that are placed, the more producers would operate, but when orders drop, the seasonal producers prefer to stop operating.