Image credit: Malay Mail
KUALA LUMPUR: The government, through the Ministry of Economy, will provide a special fund of RM40 million for the recruitment of 10,000 workers under the new Academy in Industry (AiI)-SLDN programme until the end of 2023.
Minister Rafizi Ramli said this fund will be used to pay for worker placement incentives so that young people are not burdened with the cost of paying a rental house deposit and moving from the village as well as graduation incentives to stay in work, and as certification incentives if trainees stay in work for up to 18 months to get the Malaysian Skills Certificate (SKM).
"Employers are given training incentives for trainees who are certified at the end of a period of nine to 18 months," he told reporters after the AiI-SLDN Programme launch ceremony here today.
Rafizi said the AiI Initiative is based on a demand-driven industry approach implemented on the basis of industrial demand based on the concept of place and train.
He added that it is one of the national agendas to empower future industry talent with a target of 50,000 local talents by the end of 2025 to increase the country's average educational achievement, reduce the skill mismatch gap and reduce dependence on foreign workers.
"AiI focuses on enabling the young and vulnerable to join the technical employment sector without having to have a Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) qualification first because they will be trained and certified while working through the place and train concept.
"This new approach takes into account the tendency of young people who are more interested in working directly without furthering their education after school," he said.
Through the AiI programme, he said employers who meet the requirements (in terms of training modules, the type of technical content in the job, and the salary offered) will be licensed by the skills development department (JPK) to train and certify their employees after the employee goes through the work-training period of nine to 18 months depending on the type of skill chosen.
"This means that young people as young as 18 can start working and have technical career prospects because they will get the SKM after nine to 18 months of work, compared to the existing approach that requires passing a full-time TVET course for 24 months before they can find a job, " he added.
Earlier, Human Resources Minister V. Sivakumar proposed that the Malaysian Skills Certification System (SPKM) become the single national TVET certificate for all TVET programs from level one to five in an effort to help improve and standardise TVET in Malaysia.
"TVET is identified as one of the 14 drivers of change in the 12th Malaysia Plan (RMK-12). TVET plays an important role in providing a skilled workforce that requires specific skills and is able to generate high income.
"This is important because the government intends to achieve the target of 35 percent highly skilled workforce by 2030," he said.
Source: https://www.nst.com.my/business/2023/08/937599/govt-allocated-rm40-mln-fund-ail-sldn-programme-until-end-year-rafizi