JAKARTA, March 15 (Xinhua) -- A graduation ceremony was held Friday in Jakarta's western outskirt of Serpong for 19 Indonesian students from four vocational schools after they received training from a Chinese construction firm in drilling machine operation.

Trainees, who graduated from the program, would be recruited by the company to operate machines in its Indonesian project sites, according to Indo Paku Bumi (IPB) CEO Wang Dewu.

"This training program would also expand the number of Indonesian workers in our projects and subsequently reduce the Chinese ones," Wang added.

Head of Vocational and Industrial Cooperation at the National Education Ministry Saryadi said such a training program is an exceptional opportunity for vocational school students to become skilled and ready-for-use operators direly needed by construction firms in the country.

He hoped that the program would continue in the future, helping train more students from the country's vocational schools.