The Bali provincial government is going to make sure 1,000 SMK, vocational school graduates, will get jobs on cruise ships, says the island’s governor.
Bali doesn’t have that much cruise ship traffic at the moment, but the government is taking an “if you build it, they will come” approach with construction on a cruise ship terminal hoped for completion in 2018 in Benoa.
SMK graduates shouldn’t worry about bearing any expenses to take jobs on cruises ships, Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika said on Tuesday.
“The government will cover all costs, whether it be for passports, visas, or ticket fees. Do not think about the cost, the government will bear it 100 percent,” Pastika said during a working visit to six public SMK schools in Singaraja on Tuesday.
Bali’s provincial government has allocated enough budget to send 1,000 SMK graduates to work on ships and is prioritizing the opportunity more for students “in need”, as a way to try and “break the chain of poverty,” says Pastika.
“I ask that schools register students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. If they want to work on cruise ships, they should focus on their education, improve their English skills, so they will be more competitive.”
Moreover, seeing a number of schools with unused land, Pastika implored schools to build dormitories for students and teachers who live too far from campus.