PANGKALPINANG – To enhance the quality of human resources in mining communities, PT Timah has been running the Pemali Boarding School program, a scholarship initiative, since 2000.
In implementing the Pemali Boarding School Program, PT Timah collaborates with the Bangka Belitung Provincial Department of Education and SMAN 1 Pemali to support the education of scholarship recipients.
This program, launched by PT Timah, has produced 851 alumni, targeting economically disadvantaged and academically outstanding students. The boarding school-based education program fully funds the education of scholarship recipients at the senior high school level.
The success of the Pemali Boarding School program has attracted the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) team from PT Inalum and the Inalum Partners Foundation to conduct a study on PT Timah’s program in Pangkalpinang, Bangka Belitung, from October 7-9, 2024.
Led by Acting Head of CSR Department PT Inalum, Daniel JP Hutauruk, the group visited SMAN 1 Pemali and PT Timah’s boarding school dormitory in Pemali, Bangka Regency, to observe the Pemali Boarding School program in action.
Accompanied by Risal Barung Mangontan, Department Head of Corporate Social Responsibility & Environment at PT Timah, they visited several facilities at the Pemali Boarding School dormitory.
Daniel stated that as members of MIND ID’s Mining Industry Holding, PT Inalum and PT Timah share a similar mandate from the government to manage education and community empowerment.
Currently, Inalum already has a foundation focused on high school education and has been tasked with raising the level of education, particularly in Batubara Regency, to establish an elite high school.
With this visit, they aimed to observe firsthand how the Pemali Boarding School program operates, enabling them to understand how to implement a similar boarding school program in Batubara Regency, specifically at PT Inalum.
He noted that PT Timah’s Boarding School program is exemplary and serves as a model for implementation at PT Inalum.
“We extend our heartfelt thanks to PT Timah for sharing their vast experiences and information on managing the boarding school program, which has provided us with valuable insights to run a top-tier school program in Batubara,” Daniel said.
From this visit, Daniel added, there are several steps they can adopt to improve competencies, particularly in educational services.
“PT Timah’s boarding school has become a model for us to implement in Batubara Regency. I believe the next step is to share and collaborate to adopt these best practices,” he remarked.
In the future, Daniel hopes that PT Inalum can continue to collaborate with PT Timah to improve educational services for communities around mining areas.
“I hope that in the future, Inalum can also share what we have learned here so that we can work together to enhance competencies in educational services at the high school level and beyond,” Daniel concluded. (*)
