First Indonesian Community College Will Establish

Pangkalpinang (Antara Bali) - Pangkalpinang, the thriving capital of Bangka Belitung province, will soon boast of having the first Indonesian community college, according to the Head of the City Education Board, Edison Taher.

"Our city has met the 12-year compulsory primary and secondary education requirement since 2006. Therefore, we are now ready to follow that up with compulsory education in higher education, which makes it a total of 15 years of compulsory education," he said here on Thursday.

The community college system has been quite popular in many countries, with their higher education students pursuing a diploma for a year or two. However, in Indonesia, it is a new concept.

Pangkalpinang, which has been declared a 'vocational education city', has more vocational high schools (60%) than conventional high schools (40 percent).

Currently, Pangkalpinang has eight vocational high schools. Two of them are of international standard (RSBI), making it possible for students of the schools to enjoy the same facilities as they would enjoy in other world-class vocational high schools around the globe.(IGT)