Indonesian Social Workers Should Be Certified To Meet Foreign Demand

Jakarta (Antara Bali) - Indonesian social workers should be certified to meet the demands of the wide open international market, Minister of Social Affairs Khofifah Indar Parawansa said.

"For instance, Japan asks for 400 social workers every year to serve the elderly. But we cannot meet the request as most workers are not certified," she stated here on Friday.

Currently, there are only 170 certified social workers, while the demand for these volunteers is high, along with the complexity of social problems and the increase in the number of people with issues related to social welfare, such as poverty.

According to the minister, social workers are certified in many countries and are in demand to fill in positions in hospitals, schools and even industries.

"Social workers can, in fact, be involved in the social policymaking and planning process. For instance, they can be involved in the management of deforestation by making policies and planning the recovery of forest cover," Parawansa pointed out.

In addition, the presidential policy on imposing the death penalty on drug convicts, which has led to the emergence of opposing camps, is another issue. She hoped that the Draft on Social Workers can be included in the national legislation program as social workers constitute the ninth rank of the ten elite professions in Indonesia.(WDY)