Kick off The Tourism Vocational School Strengthening Program in Southwest Sumba
DESMA Center held a kick off program strengthening SMK Tourism in Southwest Sumba Regency. The event took place on October 22, 2020 at Hotel Sinar Tambolaka, Tambolaka City, Southwest Sumba Regency. This kick off marks the official start of smk tourism strengthening program in Southwest Sumba. The program is a collaboration program between the DESMA Center funded by the William & Lily Foundation and the Adaro Bangun Negeri Foundation. This program will conduct reinforcement assistance to 2 vocational school in Tambolaka City for two years (2020 to 2022) namely SMK Pancasila Tambolaka & SMKN 2 Tambolaka City.
Kick Off event of SMK Pariwisata strengthening program was attended by Mr. Mathias M. Beeh, M.M., Head of Secondary Education, Education and Culture Office of NTT Province, and Assistant II Mr. Drs. Daud Lende Umbu Monto, representing the Regent of Southwest Sumba (Mr. dr. Kornelis Kodi Mete). The event was also attended by the principals of smk assisted, the principal of SMK Pancasila Tambolaka, Mr. Aleks Rangga Pidja, S.H., M.Pd; Principal of SMKN 2 Tambolaka Mr. Frans Kabora S.Pd, Mrs. Wiwik Mahdayani Founder & Director of DESMA Center, as well as the principals of SMK Pariwisata in Southwest Sumba as well as the tourism industry players in this district.
The event opened with a procession of Gaza Kako welcoming dances typical of Sumba performed by SMK Pancasila dance workshops, as well as a reading of a poem titled "Beri Aku Sumba" by Taufik Ismail, by students of SMKN 2 Tambolaka, which was also an opportunity to show the skills of smk students built by this program. The traditional fabric of honor as part of Sumba culture is also done in this welcome.
Assistant II Mr. Drs. Daud Lende Umbu Monto in his speech on behalf of the Regent, said the government is very grateful and fully supporting the implementation of this program. The local government of Southwest Sumba said Southwest Sumba Regency is still close to the poverty line because it is based on a low economy. To address it the level of public education in Southwest Sumba must be improved. According to him, tourism development is a shared responsibility. The newly formed Southwest Sumba Regency in 2017 has natural, cultural and maritime tourism appeal. Tourism development in Southwest Sumba one of them can be done with the development of human resources. The presence of smk tourism in Southwest Sumba is the hope to produce quality and superior human resources in its field. Therefore, the Government of Southwest Sumba is very welcome to the tourism vocational school strengthening program because it is in line with the Seven Golden Bridges program in Southwest Sumba. One of the programs is tourist villages, smart villages, luminous villages, villages with sustainable food. Mr. Asisten II hopes that this program can strengthen the capacity of teachers and tourism vocational school in Southwest Sumba to answer the needs of the tourism workforce. With the presence of assistance is expected to help accelerate the achievement of the goal of the Seven Golden Bridges program in Southwest Sumba Regency.
Mr. Mathias M. Beeh, M.M. as the Head of The Department of Education and Culture of NTT Province expressed his appreciation to DESMA Center for the initiation of smk tourism strengthening program in Southwest Sumba, he said, in line with the government's program in strengthening the tourism industry through strengthening the vocational school education system in Southwest Sumba. Mr. Kabid also said, NTT Provincial Education Office is currently innovating for the development of SMK Tourism. This is faced in meeting tourism and providing career direction to graduates of smk tourism in NTT. Furthermore, Mr. Kabid also said the number of tourism industry in NTT is not comparable to the number of tourism graduates in NTT, therefore innovation needs to be done to meet the needs of work in the tourism industry. It also said that the Governor of NTT Province is currently encouraging overseas cooperation programs to send apprentices with a target of 10,000 students, but that has only been realized by 25 people and will now be attempted by 1500 people. Mr. Mathias hopes that desma center can improve the quality of education at SMK Pariwisata in Southwest Sumba.
On the next occasion, Founder & Director of DESMA Center, Ibu Wiwik Mahdayani conveyed the program's exposure that this mentoring aims to support various stakeholders in an effort to strengthen the SMK Tourism Ecosystem in Southwest Sumba. This activity seeks to have a positive impact on smk tourism education and promote that stronger education is the basis for the development and management of more sustainable tourism. Furthermore, Ibu Wiwik Mahdayani added that this activity has three main objectives, namely; Strengthening advocacy to local governments to include smk tourism as part of the regional economic development program, Increase capacity of smk tourism in preparation for LSP level 1 (One) and Increased interconnectedness and network of tourism vocational school with related tourism industry.
After a question and answer session with all participants, the event was closed with the signing of the Joint Work Plan between DESMA Center represented by DESMA Center Project Manager Sumba Southwest Mr. Boyke Hutapea and The Principal of SMK Pancasila Mr. Aleks Rangga Pidja, S.H.,M.Pd and Mr. Principal of SMKN 2 Tambolaka Mr. Frans Kabora S.Pd., witnessed by Mr. Mathias M. Beeh, M.M & Mrs. Wiwik Mahdayani. Participants then watched Woleka dance by SMK Pancasila Dance workshops
Hopefully with the start of this program, we will be able to improve the quality of smk tourism education in Southwest Sumba so as to create quality tourism resources to meet the needs and challenges of South West Sumba Tourism industry in particular, and East Nusa Tenggara Province in general. Sustainable Tourism Greetings. SMK Can! Great Vocational School!
