Semarang State Polytechnic (Polines) was chosen as the host of the 8th National Polytechnic English Olympics (NPEO) in 2021. NPEO is one of the Polytechnic Student English Competitions that has been established by Bakorma (Polytechnic Student Coordination Board) as an annual championship event for national polytechnic students.
NPEO held competitions in two fields, namely debate and non-debate competitions in English. The debate uses the British parliamentary system. Non-debate includes news casting, story-telling, speeches and writing. The theme of the 8th NPEO is Gaining Language Competence for Better life”. Meanwhile, the activities will be carried out in 2 stages, namely dummy rounds (23 – 26 May 2021) and competitions (14 – 18 June 2021).
Chairperson of the 8th NPEO 2021, Dr. Dra. Sri Rahayu Zees, M.Ed said this year the 8th NPEO was conducted on a digital platform in line with social distancing norms due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation. "This is the first time in the history of NPEO, it is held online," he said.
NPEO aims to strengthen the unity and integrity of the Republic of Indonesia by building togetherness and kinship among Polytechnics throughout Indonesia. In addition, as an effort to educate the nation by training students' cognitive skills to produce intelligent human resources through the process of thinking and acting intelligently.
Also to improve the soft skills of Polytechnic students throughout Indonesia in the field of English through communication competencies in Debate, Speech, News Casting and Story Telling in particular and mastery of English in general. In addition to creating young generations who always think, act and give their best.
The 8th NPEO was attended by 327 participants from 51 state and private polytechnics from all over Indonesia. With details of the debate competition attended by 35 teams from 35 polytechnics, news-casting attended by 63 participants from 37 polytechnics, story-telling attended by 72 participants from 45 polytechnics, speeches attended by 73 participants from 43 polytechnics, and writing followed by 49 participants from 29 polytechnics.
Dr. Dra. Sri Rahayu Zees, M.Ed as the Head of the 8th NPEO hopes that all participants will get the maximum benefit and get the most valuable and enjoyable experience during this event. Hopefully this event can contribute to the progress of the English teaching and learning process at Polytechnics in Indonesia”, “he concluded.