Twenty five Singapore Polytechnic students will join an international social service or called Learning Express (Lex) program with six teen students of Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (UMY) and eleven students of Universtas Pembangunan Nasional (UPN) for two weeks. The students will learn how to produce mushroom, coal, and crispy chips which the main industries of social service locations.

The Lex program will begin on from Monday (19/9) to 30 September 2016. Each Singapore Polytechnic student will be accompanied by one student of UMY and UPN during the program.

Chairperson of International Relations Office of UMY, Ir. Tony K. Hariadi, M.Eng. stated that the students will gain new experiences. “The location and activities will be different from what is in Singapore. They will stay in remotes area for two weeks,” Toni declared in the opening of the Lex program. They will dwell in two different villages, namely Ngaran, Pandak, Bantul and Gonjeng, Kasihan, Bantul.

Tony said that students should also conduct research on local issues during production of the three products. They have to analyze and discuss the issues. After that, they should present the findings in a project in international social service exhibition in 29 Sepetember.

Koh Siok Im, a Singapore Polytechnic supervisor, expected that the Singaporean students can interact with local community during the Lex program. “I wish they are also able to cope with issues of the local community, and collaborate with local students,” Koh expressed.

Before departing to the social service locations, Singapore Polytechnic students have learned Indonesia in terms of common vocabularies, introductions, greetings, and others. The Indonesian language learning may assist the Singaporean students to communicate with local people.