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Certification for skills and competency was not enough for vocational high schools, a government official said on Tuesday, adding that entrepreneurship was also needed to cut the country’s steep unemployment rate.

“Getting certification does not mean that they are guaranteed a job. What we would like to push here is the entrepreneurial skills of our graduates so that they can depend on themselves to create jobs,” said Joko Sutrisno, director of vocational schools at the Ministry of National Education.

“Certifications are just a way to identify a skill. To increase employment opportunity, the economy has to be stimulated by creating more businesses. That is why entrepreneurial skills are very important.”

According to ministry data, 25 million high school and vocational school graduates were unemployed in 2009, compared with 3.8 million with bachelor’s degrees and three million holding university diplomas.

Deputy Education Minister Fasli Jalal has said the ministry, together with the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration, would tell employers to start outlining the certified skills needed to qualify for jobs.

Taufik Yudi Mulyanto, head of the Jakarta Education Agency, said vocational schools played a strategic role in a city, “where there are a lot of job opportunities that can be created and a lot of manpower available.”

He also said trade schools should apply for international certification so their students would be qualified to work anywhere in the world.

But Joko dismissed more certification as “an easy answer,” and said it was important for graduates to be able to create their own job opportunities so did not “just graduate with a certificate but can’t find work anywhere.”

Over the past two years, vocational schools have been including industry-specific skills to boost students’ abilities to start their businesses in various fields such as computing, automotive, construction, hospitality and in the creative arts.

Trade schools, Joko said, were also encouraged to work with industry partners and invite experts from the field to assist instructors.

Noor Fuadiyah Zuhaeda from Prestasi Junior Indonesia, an entrepreneurial education institution assisting vocational schools, said to increase business acumen, students were encouraged to undertake extracurricular activities such as assisting at school canteens, or launching recycling or small-accessories businesses.