E

xperts have expressed their concern that the country could lose its opportunity to reap benefits from the so-called demographic dividend unless the government invested more in projects to improve human resource capital.

While other fast-growing economies in the region, including China and Japan, face a graying population, Indonesia is blessed with 60 percent of its 240 million populace being under 30 years of age.

Indonesia is expected to reap the benefits of a young population until 2025, after which the trend will reverse and the population will start to age. '€œThe government should really focus on improving the quality of our human resources to create high employment and productivity during the peak period of
this demographic situation,'€ the Ban-dung Institute of Technology (ITB) re-searcher Haryo Winarso said recently.

Public policy expert Sofian Effendi said the demographic dividend, which could be reaped between 2020 and 2030, would allow Indonesia to have a massive, young, productive labor force with a low dependency ratio of 44 percent.

'€œHowever, the main problem is that Indonesia lacks skilled and effective workers,'€ he said.

According to a 2012 survey conducted by the Swiss-based International Institute for Management Development in 59 countries around the world, Indonesia ranked as one of the lowest in terms of human resource productivity.

The survey also reported that most Indonesian workers toiled for long hours but only produced small gains.

'€œThe survey reveals that most workers in Indonesia are junior high school graduates with low levels of efficiency and knowlegde,'€ he said.

Anies Baswedan, the founder of Indonesia Mengajar (Indonesia Teaches), a foundation that sends top university graduates to teach in the country'€™s remote areas, said the demographic dividend could also be a curse due to problems in the country'€™s educational system.

'€œIndonesia has a lot of human resources. However, the 2011 UNDP [United Nations Development Program] data shows that only 2.3 million out of 5.6 million students had continued their studies through high school,'€ he said.

Anies added that the problems in education were among the primary obstacles for the country in obtaining the demographic dividend.

Sofian said the problems in education had been caused by the government'€™s failure to provide universal access to education.

'€œFor almost 30 years, the government has tried to implement the policy of universal education, but the facts show that many impoverished citizens still can'€™t access higher education,'€ he said.

Sofian added that only 15 percent of Indonesia'€™s total population had access to tertiary education, with most coming from wealthy families.

'€œSo far, the government has mishandled the scholarship program.'€

Meanwhile, the head of the National Family Planning Board (BKKBN), Fasli Jalal, said the government would be stepping up its efforts regarding family planning as one way to reap the benefits of the demographic dividend for the overall prosperity of the country.

'€œFertility rates in Indonesia have been stagnant for the past few years. So, we really need to step up the family planning program to reduce maternal and infant mortality in the coming years,'€ he said.

Between 2020 and 2030, Indonesia is expected to see a decrease in the number of children under 15 years old to 54.2 million from the current 61 million.

Meanwhile, the number of people between the working ages of 15-64 is expected to increase to a peak of 192.2 million people. (tam)