President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has urged vocational schools (SMK) to provide new subjects related to technology and the digital industry.

As reported by kompas.com, Jokowi said vocational schools should not only offer machinery, electrical and construction departments, suggesting that digital skills like video blogging (vlogging) should be included as well.

“The world is changing so quickly. We need to have departments on IT networking, creating vlogs, applications, animation, which are all currently trending,” Jokowi said during the opening of the Indonesian Rectors Forum and Conference at the Jakarta Convention Center in Senayan, Central Jakarta, on Thursday. The new skills would aim to help local talents compete in global settings.

(Read also: Minister sees Germany, Switzerland as models for vocational schools)

The President was hopeful that vocational schools would be able to offer education on e-commerce. "If there was a department on online stores, we could educate our children on developing platforms, like how Alibaba has developed such huge logistical and retail platforms that attract hundreds of millions of visitors," he said.

During the occasion, Jokowi also revealed that 82 percent of Indonesian migrant workers who worked as maids overseas were vocational school graduates. (jes/kes)