TheJakartaPost
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Low-skilled workers hope for better future through affordable colleges
Cheap colleges offer hope for entry-level workers to gain degrees and eventually to improve their careers.
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Many institutions in Greater Jakarta offer similar programs for workers and they offer flexible class hours and flexible payment terms. (Shutterstock/File)
L
ow-skilled workers in Jakarta, mostly high school graduates, see an opportunity to improve their career paths through affordable colleges, although they have to juggle between work and school.
According to Statistics Indonesia (BPS) data in August 2018, of about 4.73 million workers in the city, only 25.58 percent of them were graduates of college-level institutions. Most of the workforce, 42.29 percent, were high school graduates while 32.13 percent were junior high school graduates.
Irpan Chrisson Limbong, 23, is a high-school graduate who works at a convenient store in Gambir, Central Jakarta. He is pursuing an undergraduate degree in management at the Open University (UT) and he is now in his third semester.
Hailing from Labuhan Batu Utara regency in North Sumatra, Irpan said he moved to the city in 2015 in search of work. He said that finding work in his home, the provincial capital Medan, was actually not difficult, but he said finding a job in Medan that offered him enough of a salary for him to pursue higher education while working was not easy. So he went to Jakarta to pursue his dream.
“Because my main goal of working is to [make enough] so I can continue my education,” Irpan said on Tuesday.
Irpan started at an entry level job as one of the store’s staff members and then got a promotion to become an assistant to the store chief.
With a monthly salary of about Rp 4.5 million (US$318), Irpan managed to pay for his basic needs, his education and even send some money back to his family.
