Kupang, 18 July 2024 – The development of artificial intelligence (AI) should benefit everyone in Indonesia, including teachers from vocational high schools (SMK) in the East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) region. By providing access to Generative AI for SMK teachers and students in the region, we could also help them to have better chances in entering the job market and competing with the other 149.38 billion people of productive age in Indonesia (Central Agency of Statistics Indonesia—BPS, 2024).
Yayasan Plan International Indonesia (Plan Indonesia) held a hybrid training of trainers joined by 80 vocational high school teachers from five different regions in NTT, spanning from the Kupang City, South Timor Tengah regency, Lembata regency, Nagekeo regency, and Manggarai regency on Thursday (18/07/2024). The training was as a part of Plan Indonesia’s Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship initiative–the AI TEACH program supported by Microsoft.
Dini Arifah, AI TEACH Project Manager at Plan Indonesia explained that the training of trainers served as a continuation of Plan Indonesia’s support in elevating access to digital employment for people in the NTT region. “As an organization that has been working for more than 50 years in the NTT region—which is our main implementation area—Plan Indonesia hoped to use this chance to enhance the ability and work readiness of SMK teachers and students in NTT, particularly to enable them to compete within the 4.0 digital industry landscape,” Dini said at the beginning of AI TEACH ToT in Kupang, Thursday (18/07/2024).
The AI TEACH training of trainers was held through cooperation between Plan Indonesia and NTT’s local Department of Education and Culture. Both institutions will work together to reach 1,000 SMK teachers who will then cascade their AI Generative knowledge to approximately 60,000 SMK students by 2024.
Ambrosius Kodo, the current Head of Department of Education and Culture in NTT, said that the government appreciated Plan Indonesia’s initiative to enhance education quality in the region, particularly to reduce the amount of open unemployment rate in NTT that amounted to 3.17 per cent of in 2024.
“We are given the aptitude and the space to make good use of technology, especially to improve education in NTT. AI can actually help make things easier. Teachers and the students will need understand how to leverage AI to increase their knowledge and career, instead of viewing it as a threat,” Ambrosius said.
Meanwhile, Microsoft ASEAN Philanthropies Lead Supahrat Juramongkol said, “In line with Microsoft’s mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more, we are excited to accelerate the implementation of AI TEACH program in collaboration with Plan Indonesia. Through the AI Generative Toolkit we have prepared, we aim to enhance career and educational opportunities for participants, promote equitable access to digital education, and foster inclusive digital economic growth in NTT.”
Among the subjects offered through the AI TEACH training are Generative AI for education, soft skills (work readiness), basic digital skills, gender equality and social inclusion, as well as awareness of risky behaviour. All of the training materials could be accessed online through Plan Indonesia’s e-learning platform, kitakerja.id, accompanied with additional materials by LinkedIn learning. Aside from providing initial training to 80 teachers who will become the trainers in NTT, the AI TEACH program by Plan Indonesia and Microsoft will also reach out to 5,000 teachers, cascading to 300,000 vocational high school students in the country. The teachers will then support at least 60,000 students to graduate from the program and receive certifications by Microsoft and LinkedIn by the end of December 2024.
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