Dr. Savaş Alpay, Director General of SESRIC, visited Ministry of National Education of Indonesia
Date: 16 September 2011
Venue: Jakarta - Indonesia

Dr. Savaş Alpay, Director General of SESRIC, and Mr. Atilla Karaman, Researcher, visited the General Directorate of Secondary Education at the Ministry of National Education (MoNE) of the Republic of Indonesia in Jakarta on 16 September 2011. Mr. Mustaghfirin Amin, Secretary at the Directorate General for Secondary Education, and Mr. Yoni Utomo, Senior Staff at the Directorate of Technical and Vocational Education received the SESRIC delegation at the MoNE Headquarters.

At the outset of the meeting, Mr. Mustaghfirin Amin welcomed the SESRIC delegation, and then, mentioned about the recent initiatives of the MoNE, one of which is the implementation of 12-year compulsory schooling nationwide by 2014. Mr. Mustaghfirin Amin stated that there are steps still to be taken for the successful implementation of the new initiative considering Indonesia has the biggest population among the OIC Member Countries and is the largest country in Southeast Asia. Mr. Mustaghfirin Amin articulated that as the General Directorate they welcome the opportunities for cooperation regarding secondary education.

On his part, Dr. Alpay expressed his thanks to Mr. Mustaghfirin Amin and Mr. Yoni Utomo. Dr. Alpay reminded the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between SESRIC, Centre for Vocational and Art Courses of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (ISMEK) and MoNE of the Republic of Indonesia on 5 April 2011 with an aim to develop cooperation and collaboration in vocational, technical and art education and training. Dr. Alpay stated that ISMEK already carried out a successful Master Trainer Programme (IMTP) for a group of ten master trainers from Pakistan. Dr. Alpay mentioned that the IMTP is a programme developed jointly by SESRIC and İSMEK within the framework of the Vocational Education and Training Programme of the OIC Member Countries (OIC-VET) to provide intensive free training courses to master trainers from OIC Member Countries in various subjects under different categories. In this regard, Dr. Alpay proposed that the MoNE and İSMEK can discuss modalities for customising the İSMEK model in accordance with the needs and requirements of Indonesia.

At the end of the meeting, Mr. Mustaghfirin Amin expressed his thanks to the SESRIC delegation for their visit, and expressed the readiness of the General Directorate of Secondary Education of the MoNE to cooperate with İSMEK to carry out an activity in the earliest convenience.